LIBRARY OF CONGRF 



UNITED STATES OF AMEEIOA. 



SERMONS, 



Letters and Lectures. 



Lr^ ^ BY B. F. LAWLER, 

PASTOE PRAIRIE UNION BAPTIST CHURCH AND FIRST 
BAPTIST CHURCH, SALEM, NEBRASKA. 



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ST. LOUIS BAPTIST PUBLISHIKG CO., 
ST. LOUIS. 



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PREFACE. 



The Author's first impressions, in regard to pub- 
lishing a book of Sermons, were received while vis- 
iting promiscuously, as minister and teacher, among 
the people ; many of whom possess very few books. 
A sense of this deficiency and an abiding desire to 
preach the gospel to evciy creature^ therefore move 
him to publish in book form results of the convic- 
tions which he feels have been great blessings to 
himself, hoping that others may be benefitted 
thereby. 

In hope to glorify Grod in the upbuilding of His 

kingdom, in strengthening His people, and inducing 

many to seek the Lord, he ventures to publish this 

little book. This is not a new thought either — it is 

the result of a long settled conviction. And now, 

with much anxiety for the welfare of souls, and with 

prayer to God to guide the Author and his book, he 

sends it on its mission. 

B. F, Lawler, 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



I 

PREFACE V 

INTRODUCTION VII 

Sermon — (outline) Mat. 13:44. Again the kingdom of heav- 
en is like unto treasure hid in a field, &c 10 

Sermon — (outline) John 6:47. Verily, verily, I say unto 

you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life, 14 

Sermon — GaU 6:7. For whatsoever a man soweth, that 

shall he also reap 19 

Sermon — (outline) Luke 18:18. And a certain ruler asked 
Him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to 
inherit eternal life 27 

Sermon — ist Cor. 15:22. For as in Adam all die, even so 
in Christ shall all be made alive. (Funeral of Mr. 
Veach's child) 29 

Sermon — (outline) Mat. 5:21, 22. Ye have heard that it 
hath been said by them of old time thou shalt not 
kill, &c 35 

Sermon — Mat. ii;i6, 17. But whereunto shall I liken this 
generation ? It is like unto children sitting in the 
markets, &c 37 

Sermon — Mat. 16:26, (latter clause.) Or what shall a man 

give in exchange for his soul ,... 43 

Sermon — ^Acts 24:25. And as he reasoned of righteous- 
ness, temperance, and judgment to come Felix 
trembled 48 



VI 

Sermon — Col. 3:5. When Christ who is our life shall ap- 
pear, then shall ye also appear wirh him in glory, 54 

Sermon — Psalm 23:4. Yea, though I walk through the val- 
ley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, &c. 
(Funeral of Mrs. Sappington) 60 

Sermon — Isaiah 38:1. Set thy house in order. (Funeral 

of Bro. John B. Evans) 67 

The Covenants — Read before the Baptist State Convention 72 
Sermon — Num. 23:10. Let me die the death of the right- 
eous and let my last end be like his. (Funeral of 

Bro. D. W. Thomas) 83 

Letter to Central Baptist — Tebo Association 91 

Sermon — Amos 4:12. Prepare to meet thy God; (Funeral 

of Mrs. Dorrington) 93 

Letter to Central Baptist — Atlanta Convention 100 

Sermon — Romans 6:17. But God be thanked that ye have 

obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine, &c. 102 
Sermon — John 6:53. Then Jesus said unto them verily, 
verily I say unto you except ye eat the flesh of the 

Son of man, &c no 

Appendix — Lecture to Young Men 123 

Lecture — Music in the Family 134 



mTRODUCTION. 



BY F. M. WILLIAMS. 



The benefit which we derive from reading a new 
book like this depends very much on the spirit with 
which we enter into it. Our brother has given us 
earnest words from a heart full of interest in our 
welfare. It were well that they be received in the 
same spirit of earnestness. Let us seek to profit by 
the whole truth that is presented to us, and try to 
be honest in receiving it to ourselves. It were well 
that, so far as practicable, we read at such times as 
give opportunity for meditation and reflection, and 
that we not only enter into the thoughts but also into 
the earnest spirit of the Author. And as we read, 
we should not put away the good influences should 
they come over us ; but rather welcome that rising 
tenderness in the feelings, that would open wide the 
door of the soul for the admission of the great les- 
sons that come to us from God's word. May it 

vii 



Vlil INTRODUCTIOK. 

never be said to any of us, as to those wicked ones 
that stoned Stephen : '^ Ye do always resist the Holy 
Ghostr 

We know that we shall soon pass away. Should 
we live to be old, it will seem but as a span back to 
childhood's days. It is now twenty-six years since 
we began to spend pleasant days in the society of 
our Brother Lawler, and yet it seems but a short 
while. Time flies rapidly. We know that we are 
passing away, and it will avail us nothing to try to 
put the thought from us ; nor should the thought 
sadden our hearts, but prompt us rather to seek 
preparation to enter into the home of the blest, 
We seek knowledge in acquiring the comforts of 
this life, and this is right, but we should not give all 
our thoughts to these things, ''But seek ye first the 
Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all 
these things shall be added unto you." 

No knowledge can be more important than that 
which pertains to the subjects treated in this work. 
I have had the benefit and the pleasure of listening 
to several of these discourses, in their delivery. 
They are genuine discourses, under which many at- 
tentive listeners have been deeply impressed, and it 
is hoped as it now goes forth others also may be im- 
pressed for good. 



IKTEOBUCTIOK. IX 

This is an age of money-getting, but money is not 
the object in publishing this book. If it will pay 
expenses of publication and do good, it will fulfill 
the wishes of the Author. And should it find many 
readers, and each be benefitted in its perusal as I 
have been in going through its pages, he will have 
his wish. 



10 SERMONS, LETTERS AKD LECTURES, 



OUTLINE OF SERMOlSr. 



Preached in Salem, Sabbath, Aug. 18th, 1878, 8 

o'clock p. m. 



Mat. 13:44. Again, tlie kingdom of heaven is like unto 
treasure Md in a field ; the which when a man hath 
found, he hideth, and for joy thereof he goeth and 
selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. 

The field here may be interpreted to be the 
''scope" of Grod's promises in which a " Oreat 
Comer," who is also called the Branch, the Son of 
Grod, is to be found. Certainly Jesus is the treasure 
and man is the seeker of the treasure. It is vain 
for man to abandon the search until he has 
thoroughly tried the field. 'No man can logically and 
properly set aside the Christian religion until he 
has labored the principles involved in the proposi- 
tion. Pythagoras himself would never have dis- 
covered that the square of a hypothenuse is equal to 
the sum of the squares of the other two sides, if he 
had not fully tested the principles involved; the 
whole of them, applying them in their proper 
places. So we would teach that the seeker for this 
treasure must apply the principles involved in the 



BY B. ¥. LAWLER. 11 

gospel. I would not say that you must thoroughly 
understand all the prophecies, and all the Old and 
'New Testaments, in order to be saved ; but we do 
teach that men must apply the principles of repen- 
tance and faith in the search, or never find the 
treasure. It is no momentary matter ; but a seeking 
diligently the Lord as the onl}^ way. " In the day 
thou seekest me with thy whole heart, I will be 
found of thee." We would urge men to make 
thorough work in this matter, though they be 
negligent of all other things. '^ Seek first the king- 
dom of God and his righteousness." We advocate 
earnestly the seeking of the Lord. " Seek the Lord 
while He may be found, call upon him while He is 
near." 

We next notice the sale of goods or other prop- 
erty, even all that he had. This is observable by 
your neighbors. They do not watch so particularly 
what you do as what you do 7iot, With what sins 
does the converted man part ? His evil habits are 
to be disposed of. It is a bad omen to see profes- 
sors holding on to the shreds of their old sins. It 
is a bad indication to see them holding on to their 
old practices. One young lady said she would join 
the Church if they would let her dance. I suppose 
she had found nothing better in her estimation and 
of course she must hold on to that. Some, who 
evidently love other things better than the Church, 



12 SERMOKS, LETTERS AKD LECTURES, 

will, I fear, find other things preferred to them at 
heaven's gate. Sin must be disposed of in order to 
the possession of the treasure. We also find this 
man sold his possessions joyfully. A convert who 
is not eager to get rid of his sins, knows but little 
if anything about a new birth. The apostle Paul 
cries out and says, '' 0, wretched man that lam! 
who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" 
Part with thy sins reluctantly ? See the farmer who 
aims to change his business. See him disposing of 
his farming implements. He is making a public 
sale of all that he has. You are surprised at the 
eagerness with which he parts^ with his goods. So 
it is with the truly converted soul. There is an 
eagerness with which we part with evil practices. 
If the citizens of Rome were moved to rise up 
against the murderers of Csesar, should I hold in my 
hand the daggers reeking with the blood of the 
Lord ! Should I hold on eagerly to the shreds of my 
old sins ! Let me rather fling them away. Sin has 
parted the brother from the brother. Sin has 
driven the father from his wife and children, leav- 
ing them in ruin and despair. Sin moved Cain to 
kill his brother Abel. sin, what a monster thou 
art ! Part with my sins ? Yes, and gladly too. I 
would be willing to bring before the Lord, all of them, 
all my sins and slay them there. 0, brothers and 
sisters, how careful should we be about holding on 



BY B. F. LAWLER. 13 

to sin. It grieves the Church. It grieves the pas- 
tor. It grieves the Holy Spirit. 0, should not I 
pray to God that he would deliver me from evil ? 
Amen, 



14 SERMONS, LETTERS AlfD LECTURES, 



OUTLmE OF SERMOI^. 



Preached at Prairie Union Baptist Church, April 

21ST, 1878. 



John 6:47. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that be- 
lieveth on me hath everlasting life. 

Our Lord intensifies his assertion — Verily, verily, 
(or truly) I say unto you, etc. Here is a modest 
recommendation of himself which we would do well 
to heed. As much as to say, he who possesses me 
possesses much — everlasting life. ''Believeth" here 
is the same as to appropriate — the act of the new- 
born soul. 

1. Faith or belief, which is represented as having 
hands to lay hold on life, is the result of a godly 
sorrow that worketh a repentance that needeth not 
to be repented of, — follows, does not precede, repen- 
tance. We wish to be understood, that repentance, 
sincere godly sorrow for sin, precedes the faith 
represented as " living faith." That saving faith 
never occurs prior to repentance. 

Repentance is that element which deprecates self, 
lowers the standard of self-esteem, — congeals, so to 



BY B. F. LAWLER. 15 

speak, the feeling of self-righteousness, until it sinks 
down to or zero. Then, and not till then, is a sin- 
ner willing to say with the poet : 

" Here Lord, I give myself away, 
'Tis all that I can do.'' 
Self must be abandoned so far as works of righteous- 
ness are concerned, accepting Jesus as the Saviour. 
This transition or passing from one's self to Jesus 
\^ faith. In order, therefore, to believe, we must re- 
pent. And to repent is to yield to God's convicting 
power. Jesus rose from the dead to grant repen- 
tance and the forgiveness of sin, — hence, repentance 
itself is a gift, graciously bestowed on us, though we 
too refused to submit to its influence. This allow- 
ing one's own moral self, with all our good actions, 
to go for nothing, absolutely nothing, is more than 
we are willing to do, until we have felt the plague 
of our owm hearts and realized that all our right- 
eousness is as filthy rags. (See Isa. 64 : 6.) When 
God causes our sins to be set in order before our 
eyes, (See Psa. 50 : 21) then it is that he floodeth the 
vaults of the soul with light, which reveals to us the 
frightfulness of our condition, which drives us out 
of self, to seek for preparation to meet God. We 
are apt to fly to the law, (commandments) which 
augments and intensifies our fears until he who kept 
the law, even Jesus, appears to take away our guilt 
and to bring us to God. We are now crucified to 



16 SERMOIN'S, LETTERS Al^D LECTURES, 

the world and the world to us, — have seen sin, — its 
horrid deformity, — have felt its aggregation and bit- 
terness, — have contrasted our own moral darkness 
with the pure and holy light of heaven and God's 
righteousness. The disparity being so great, we turn 
to Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God, and find in him 
full salvation, everlasting life; his righteousness 
being imputed to us, we appear before God, and are 
justified through him who is well pleasing in the 
sight of God. 

2. He that believeth on me hath everlasting life — 
hath life^ for he hath me. This exchange hath 
brought in a wonderful revenue. The man spoken 
of in the Scriptures, who found treasure hid in a 
field, went and sold all that he had and bought the 
field, so that all that might be found there should be 
his. A sinner who gives himself for another, — even 
Jesus Christ, — loses all that he had in former self, 
all that inhered in the old title, — lost all, — becomes 
nothing before God, and gains everything in Christ, 
the Lord — even life forever more. And the moment 
he believes he comes into possession of Jesus' in- 
heritance, everlasting life; does not have to be 
proved, put on probation, but has already everlasting 
life. In some of the Eastern States poor people have 
lived on their estates in huts or cabins, their children 
in tattered garments, until oil-wells or coal-fields 
were discovered belonging to them. All in a day 



BY B. F. LAWLER. 17 

they became rich, their houses became centers of 
attraction for men of '' much monies." These once 
thought to be poor and mean have been informed 
how rich they are. 

How they stagger under these weighty circum- 
stances ! yet had been rich all the while, because 
they had owned the field. Jesus is not very invit- 
ing to the world 7iow^ but to those who have him for 
their own, what a treasure ! Ah, poor child of God, 
you are immensely rich ! ^^ It doth not yet appear," 
but when heaven with its glory shall burst upon 
your waiting eyes, you will be overwhelmed with 
raptures of delight, like the queen of the South be- 
holding Solomon. Behold, the half has not been 
told you ! Heaven will far exceed anything you have 
ever hoped or thought — will far out-reach your high- 
est hopes and greatest expectations. Ha/ A everlast- 
ing life I What an overwhelming thought ! Toil on, 
ye servants of the Lord, and in due time Christ will 
fill your mouths with laughter, your hearts over- 
flowing with gladness. Soon the joyful news will 
come, '' Child, your Father calls, Come home." 

But we conclude. A great rush is made for fields 
in which great treasures are found, and offfers are 
made for their possession. Jesus is neglected iiuw^ 
but what a rush will be made for Him when the 
High Court convenes and the world is to be judged! 
How many will then be saying, '' Lord, Lord, open 



18 SERMONS, LETTERS AND LECTURES, 

unto us/' Jesus is to answer, " I never knew you." 
Then what will a man give in exchange for so valu- 
able a possession as Jesus ! ' 'Verily, verily, I say 
unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting 
life." May the Lord bless and save us for His great 
name's sake. Amen. 



BY B. F. LAWLER. 19 



SERMON. 



For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 
Gal. 6:7. (Latter clause.) 

Whatsoever grain we sow we certainly shall reap. 
'Not only the farmer knows this, but the school-girl 
has learned to plant flower-seeds in her mother's 
garden with reference to their kinds, knowing that 
each, if it do anything, will faithfully repeat itself, 
will certainly produce its own kind. In regard to 
the laws of health, lessons have been severely taught 
and reluctantly received. An over-heat, as it is 
called, followed by a too rapid cooling, frequently 
affixes its penalty on the lungs, and quick consump- 
tion speedily follows. Over-eating, with other indis- 
cretion, is followed with dyspepsia. Our physicians 
tell us that it is so in every case, w^hether yielding 
to passion or appetite ; and in many ways which we 
do not suspect, we contract diseases and premature 
death ; not as uncertainly as those who plant corn, 
will he or she reap. The corn may have too much 
cold or too little moisture to germinate ; but not so 
in the physical system of man ; it is certain to show 
sooner or later every infraction of her laws, — the 
reaping is sure to come. A man may carry in his 



20 SERMOKS, LETTERS AND LECTURES, 

blood scrofulous matter for years and years, appar- 
ently healthful ; and yet go down quick as a result 
of contraction. Many persons, most of them young 
persons, are bargaining for aches, and pains, and 
" miserable nights," and getting only a little paltry 
pleasure in advance. Sin yields its pleasure first, 
says Solomon, but the pain is sure to follow. Phy- 
sicians can alleviate, but can never follow up all the 
fibers of the human system with their medicine and 
eradicate every vestige of disease; and if they could, 
the very means employed would be an unwelcome 
invasion into the well-guarded precincts of nature, 
and irreparable injury must follow. The reason 
why the appalling efffects are not immediately per- 
ceptible is, that there is such a community of helps, 
such a city of powers, so to speak, that when one 
part of the system becomes disabled, the others 
sympathize with it, doing more than their share of 
the work, attempting to rebuild and repair the loss 
if possible, and if the nature of the injury will al- 
low it, to have the "levy " laid upon the closing days 
or years of life. The debt is certainly to be met and 
settled. 

JN'ow if every disobedience, every slightest infrac- 
tion of physical law, has to be met, there is no one 
but has contracted enough of the ills which life is 
heir to, to bring sooner or later disability to enjoy 
life ; — death itself is penalty annexed to violated 



BY B. F. LAWLER. 21 

law. See him or her who is shut in a close room — 
no health, no enjoyment, no pleasure, — nothing but 
pain. Offer such an one a bouquet of flowers, so 
rich to you, and it fails of its object except a tran- 
sient diversion. Yea, prosperity may perch upon 
every effort, herds and flocks may lack neither grass 
nor water, choice trees may bloom and be laden 
with delicious fruits, and all nature may put forth 
strong effort to make man happy, but if all the cor- 
responding element of happiness be gone out of 
him it is impossible for him to be happy. 

jN'ow, if this is sufficiently before your minds, let 
us proceed to notice its analogy. It is very evident, 
says Dr. Wayland, that God has created two worlds, 
one without and one within us. When the eye sees 
the beautiful, the corresponding sense of delight is 
felt within the beholder. Wow if this is true in 
physics, may not the same thing be true in ethics; if 
so in nature why not so in religion ? If there is an 
immortal part, and we verily believe there is, and 
that part must reap what it sows, is it not an im- 
portant matter for each one to look well to his or her 
sowings. If sinful acts and thoughts of the mind 
have penalties of disability attached, and the moral 
man has sown that which he certainly shall reap, 
though he may live long in sin and seem to prosper, 
how terrible the harvest ! If the Bible means any- 
thing, it certainly means that by sin the moral man 



22 SERMONS, LETTERS AND LECTURES, 

is SO disabled, so helplessljr sunk in the depths of 
woe, so much of susceptibility to enjoy is gone, that 
heaven with all its glory can never make that soul 
happy, whose moral health is gone forever. Take 
a suflfering man into a gilded parlor, — let him see 
its grand furniture while he is racked with pain and 
filled with misery: he would feel that things of 
beauty only mocked him. I remember being sick — 
low — no taste for food or drink ; a boy full of health 
came in eating apples — afterward took a draught of 
cold water, walked out smacking his lips, only to re- 
mind me how wretched I was. Thought I to my- 
self, what would I give to feel like that boy ! A 
moral leper might be taken into the palace of Grod 
and be supplied with everything which heaven could 
furnish — not having the corresponding element in 
himself, he could not be happy. We inherit in 
Adam a moral poison, which of itself brings an in- 
ability to enjoy God, even as Adam hid himself 
when he had disobeyed. The moral man is capable 
of doing that which involves him in guilt which 
himself cannot control so far as the penalty is con- 
cerned. The new born soul has an '' advocate with 
God." This sowing the seeds of sin is clearly 
taught in God's word. Even before entering the 
harvest field of woe, some souls begin to taste the 
bitter fruit. If the destruction of health, physi- 
cally, follows violation of law and with the increase 



BY B. F. LAWLER. 23 

with which natural seeds produce, may we not fear 
the habitual and extravagant sowing of sin ? And if 
the influence be reflective, if it comes back upon the 
author of it and the author be susceptible of being 
disabled and yet an immortal being, the injury of the 
human body be analogous to that of the soul, with 
immortality of the soul being the difference, does it 
not follow that the disability will be eternal, or as 
long as the " attainted " exists ? Bear in mind that 
those who sow sin, contract disability to enjoy 
heaven and God, — lose the correspondent element 
of happiness in themselves or the counterpart of 
that which is presented in heaven, so that no one 
having this moral inability may ever hope to be 
happy in heaven ; it matters not what be their opin- 
ion of Grod or men. Some arraign God himself, and 
condemn what he does, and object to his son Jesus, 
and entertain skeptical notions about heaven, — yet 
have a desire to and in some way expect to '' enjoy 
themselves " after death. In this there is a sad, a 
fatal mistake. Might as well expect to enjoy the 
eating of food when '' sick at stomach " or the light 
of the sun when eyes are inflamed and full of pain. 
The element of happiness must be there. I saw 
once a little boy whose eyes were so sore he could 
not bear a ray of light, — was so for many months 
that, notwithstanding his father had beautiful houses, 
garden, and field — fine horses too ; had a beautiful 



24 SERMONS, LETTERS AND LECTURES, 

parlor, but the boy begged to be put in the dark so 
that his eyes would not be so full of pain. So they 
shut him up in a close dark closet. They carried 
him his dinner, and there, in silence and darkness, 
he spent his days, while his brothers and little sis- 
ters were playing in the yard or were in school. No 
trouble with anything but himself ; the sunlight was 
all right, everything was pleasant around hira, but 
his eyes were full of pain and could not bear the 
light. 

But another trouble meets the man who goes to 
eternity in his sins, and that is an injured law^ 
whose demands withhold the portion of heavenly 
goods that falteth or would fall to him. An injury, 
too, which is irreparable except by the righteousness 
of Jesus Christ. He is the only one who could mag- 
nify the law in fact. JN'ow, if the sinner were pre- 
pared to enjoy the blessing, heaven is not ready to 
bestow it, and if heaven were ready to bestow it the 
sinner is not prepared to appreciate it or enjoy it. 
These two difficulties will forever stand against every 
one that believeth not that Jesus is the Christ. Be- 
neath these the world is hopelessly sunk if no rem- 
edy be found outside of the sinner himself. These 
are the two dark spectral columns which rise up be- 
fore the moral vision, with not a single ray to break 
the gloom, until Jesus appears in our behalf and ^'all 
is well." Jesus not only gives us his perfect health, 



BY B. F. LAWLER. 25 

morally, but also removes our disability to enjoy it, 
by satisfying every legal claim which heaven holds 
against us. He anticipates all the consequences of 
the wonderful harvest of sin, distilled into the cup 
of wrath at which He drank and in compliance with 
which He takes upon Himself our iniquities and re- 
ceives stripes due to us ; and Grod, by imputation, 
gives us, morally, the perfect health and righteous- 
ness of His dear Son. 

The doctrine of the new birth, or the means by 
which we are permitted to attain to eternal life, is a 
distinct subject, and ought to be treated in a sepa- 
rate discourse. But how every one may certainly 
know that he or she violates the moral law can be 
determined by an inward evidence called impulsion. 
^o man need deny but that he is exercised by im- 
pulsive influences independent of volition. Whether 
he acts accordingly or not is quite another thing. 
When an object presents itself to be acted upon 
or decided upon, an impulse moves immediately to 
do or not to do, the will coming in to determine the 
matter. Hence God says, '' Ye will not come unto 
me." Impulsion, as it is called, may be abused, how- 
ever, until the voice may be weakened so that its 
monitions may not be, and in thousands of cases are 
not obeyed; hence culpability arises because the will 
decided to do wrong, and so sin impairing and weak- 
ening the moral sensibility until a fearful paralysis 



26 SERMONS, LETTERS AND LECTURES, 

ensues. Come to the great physician and be healed 
of all your maladies and your diseases of soul ! for 
there is but one physician can cure a sin-sick soul. 
One more thought. If any do not feel that moral 
death is in them, or that they have poison in the 
moral system, let them draw near the light and they 
will discover moral plague, even in the heart, and 
will be ready to cry, " Wash me thoroughly that I 
may be clean." The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth 
us from all sin. 



BY B. F. LAWLER. 27 



OUTLII^E OF SERMON. 



Preached in Salem, Nebraska. 



And a certain ruler asked Him, saying. Good Master, what 
shall I do to inherit eternal life ? Luke 18:18. 

A rich man, a moralist, comes to Jesus in a busi- 
ness-like way, calling him Grood Master, and asking 
what he should do that he might inherit eternal life. 
Jesus, knowing that the man did not recognize his 
divinity, answered him as the wise man says, accord- 
ing to his folly, saying. There is none good. save one, 
that is God, If you are looking for good masters 
among me?i you will fail. 

But, waiving the objection for the time, Jesus re- 
minded him of the commandments, upon which the 
rich man replied that he had kept them from his 
youth up, adding, ''What lack I yet?" Here the 
Saviour dismantled completely, the column which 
overshadowed the inquirer. '' If thou wilt be per- 
fect, go and sell that thou hast and give to the poor, 
and come and follow me." JS'ot because he w^as rich, 
so much as because his heart was with his riches, 
and not with his God. 



28 SERMONS, LETTERS AND LECTURES, 

Application : Sir William Hamilton has said, and 
we believe it, that where there is choice there is feel- 
ing ; then the choice is apt to follow the greater feel- 
ing. For, if there be no choice without feeling, 
Avhere two objects are presented, one loved less than 
the other, volition is likely to follow the stronger 
current of feeling ; hence Jesus says, ''It is easier 
for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than 
for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven." 
His disciples said, '' Who then can be saved ?" 

Impossible with man, — altogether possible with 
God. We are here brought to our true normal. 
Not only the rich, but every sinner loves something 
else more than he loves God, hence his "wilful sin." 

Impossible with human, — possible, practicable 
with God. Salvation does not originate with human. 
This higher choice comes from without and from 
above the human. Salvation is of the Lord. This 
he gives us when we are without hope. When a 
sinner, rich or poor, interposes nothing, absolutely 
nothing to save himself, but only believes on Jesus, 
he is saved. 



BY B. F. LAWLER. 29 



FUI^ERAL SERMOIS' 

Op Mr. Thomas Veach^s Child, preached in Prairie 
Union Church, 1st Sab. in Dec. 1877. 



As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made 
alive. 1st Cor. 15:22. 

We are called upon to render the last service we 
can render, with reference to the departed child of 
your neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Veach. As no one 
would think of altering the condition of the departed, 
it is understood that what we shall say will be ad- 
dressed to the living. The text introduces two rep- 
resentatives, Adam and Christ. Paul in his argu- 
ment adduces testimony from the Bible itself, con- 
cerning the "fall of man, " and that all fell in their 
representative Adam. That in one act he disinher- 
ited the whole race, — all fell, not one being exempt. 
So also would he argue, and truly too, that all who 
are redeemed must pass through the second Adam, 
the Lord from heaven. 

This then is the interpretation of the text. It is 
altogether reasonable that if all passed through a 
given channel in the fall, all must pass through a 
given channel, even Christ, before entering into 
heaven. Therefore we conclude that all who go to 



30 SEKMOlSrS, LETTERS AND LECTURES, 

heaven will praise Jesus as the means ; as the Saviour 
of the soul. We do not doubt that this child is 
saved, and fully believe that in some way God will 
cause it to understand how Jesus saves, and it will 
be enabled to give him the praise. The blessing 
comes to infants without repentance, in a manner 
w^hich God has not been pleased to reveal, and yet it 
is altogether patent to Bible readers that it is so. 
Many things are accepted and used in physics which 
are not thoroughly understood by those who use 
them, and nothing strange is thought of it, and yet 
when a question in Theology arises a demand is 
made by very many for an explanation, when they 
themselves are involved in the admission and the 
use of simple things which they cannot explain, — 
the growing of corn, the burning of fire, the liquid 
properties of water, etc. 

In order, however, to confirm this thought, we 
turn to Mat. 18 : 3, "And he said verily I say unto 
you that except ye be converted and become as little 
children ye shall not enter into the kingdom of 
heaven." Here we notice the adult is addressed, and 
repentance upon your part strongly implied. Yery 
different is the language concerning you, from that 
concerning the child. You are to become as a little 
child. 

We understand the Saviour to mean that little chil- 
dren are saved ; and that unless sinners are brought 



BY B. F. LAWLEE. 31 

to that same condition, they can in no case enter 
into the kingdom of heaven. Certainly the dear 
Saviour would not recommend that any should be- 
come as a little child unless the little children were 
really in heaven. This, were it true, would over- 
throw the whole of his teachings upon the subject. 
And Jesus knew^ for he proceeded and came forth 
from God. When he says : " Of such is the king- 
dom of heaven " he knows what he says for he 
has been there. JS^o doubt, my beloved, but he noti- 
ces them there. He did here, — speaks of them as 
sitting in the markets, etc. This brings great com- 
fort to those who put their children away with so 
much grief. They may rest assured that God will 
^' keep my child." " Of such " and '' except ye be- 
come as such/' &c. What precious words are these ! 
How they thrill through the soul so sad now, and 
.make it rejoice and be glad. 

But in what sense are we to become as little chil- 
dren ? The father who goes home to find one of his 
children very much opposed to conform to the will 
of the father, shall have the lesson before him in a 
plain picture, — the child's will opposed to the pa- 
rent's will. The parent, if faithful, stands firm in 
the use of the proper means, — may be very mild, 
but firm, — only a matter of time ; and you will no- 
tice the will of the child slowly melting and merg- 
ing into that of the parent^ their wills both becom- 



32 SERMONS, LETTERS AN^D LECTURES, 

ing one^ and that one the will of the parent with the 
child's will in it. Again, the teacher, and I am glad 
to see so many teachers here to-day, has a faint an- 
alogy of this independent truth in the school -room. 
There is a sense in which there can be but one will 
in the school-room, else confusion is the result. See 
the faithful teacher as he or she slowly and carefully 
reduces the wills and the minds^ to some extent to 
the mould of that of his or her own. This must be 
^the case, also, to some extent, in larger corporations 
or governments, so in some sense in the Grovernment 
under which we live. Subordination is the great 
matter in the lesson before us. Our wills must be 
lost in the will of God, so that there will be no dis- 
cord in heaven, — so that all will be happy there. 
To have a will strong and unyielding and yet not be 
permitted to exercise it would indeed be very dis- 
tressing. Such a thing cannot be in heavjen. Our 
wills must merge into the will of the Lord. But 
this is the hard part of the lesson. It looks beauti- 
ful enough, but how about the reality ? 

" The Lord gave and the Lord taketh away," but 
to add the rest of the sentence and say, '' blessed be 
his name," is hard indeed for some to say. God 
sends his Holy Spirit into our hearts, — gives us the 
gospel, and pours his blessing upon us, to turn our 
attention toward himself, and to cause us to be sub- 
missive to his will. Sometimes he sends calamities 



BY B. F. LAWLER. 33 

as chastisements upon us, to draw us away from the 
too much worldliness. Did you ever see the shep- 
herd, how he sometimes takes up the lambs in his 
arms and goes home with the old sheep following. 
I remember speaking of this to a lady, once, who 
had buried a dear child. She immediately made 
the application. " Yes," said she, " He has taken 
my lamb." That lady followed on, — ^became a con- 
sistent and devoted Christian. It may be, dear 
friends, that you have a strong will, not yet reconciled 
to Grod. May be you have not yielded to the great 
Shepherd. If so, in all probability he has gathered 
your lamb in his arms and taken it to the upper fold 
on purpose to draw you in that direction. You will 
be looking up there now 7nore than you did, no doubt. 
You will often think of the lamb in the upper fold. 
That good- Shepherd has been calling you a long 
time, — now more strongly. INTow he touches your 
hearts with grief, now he leaves you to think. It 
may be you have been too indifferent about heaven. 
May be you have had your affections too much on 
the world. " Cares will come hereafter." The beau- 
tiful poem of H. W. Longfellow is sometimes very 
appropriate. 

" Tl^ere is a reaper whose name is Death, 

And with his sickle keen. 

He reaps the bearded grain with a breath ; 

And the flowers that grow between.^^ 



34 SERMOIS^S, LETTERS ANB LECTURES, 

This little flower '' between " father and mother 

is reaped and '' bound in the sheaves." But then 

the last verse is so tender we ought not to omit it. 

" O not in cruelty, not in wrath, 
The reaper came that day; 
'Twas an angel visited the green earth. 
And took the flowers away.'^ 

When home returned, your house will be a sad 
place to you, for a while. Your child cannot come 
to you, but, blessed be Grod, you can go to it. The 
vacant chair and place at table will never be filled 
on earth, but there is a chance for vou all to meet in 
heaven. 

Let your wills be subordinate to the will of Christ 
and all will be well. Give your hearts to Him. 
Trust also in Him and you shall be saved. 

Dear friends, this lesson comes home to all of us, 
for we know not how long our homes are to remain 
without being visited by the " reaper," Death. Let 
our houses be in order so we will not be taken by 
surprise. And may the good Lord help us, is my 
prayer. Amen. 



BY B. F. LAWLER. 35 



OUTLINE OF SERMOK 



Preached in Salem, Apbil 29th, 1879. 



Ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, 
Thou Shalt not kill ; and whosoever shall kill shall be in 
danger of the judgment : But I say unto you that who- 
soever is angry with his brother without a cause shall 
be in danger of the judgment ; and whosoever shall say 
to his brother, Eaca, shall be in danger of the council : 
and whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger 
of hell-fire. Mat. 5 : 21, 22. 

The classical intepretation of the Law by them 
" of old time " was ; — Say what you please to or con- 
cerning your brother, but do not kill him, for if you 
should kill him you might lay yourself liable to the 
Law. Say what you please, but keep your hands to 
yourself. Shoot out your words like arrows. Smite 
your brother, secretly if you will. '' Sharp-shoot 
him " with words, but do not touch him with your 
hands — this would be unclassical, extremely. Write 
him an anonymous letter. Sting if you can, but do 
not kill him, for then you would be in danger of 
the judgment ; you would be a bad man. Very few 
men are bad men now-a-days. Very few murderers 



36 SEKMOITS, LETTERS AND LECTURES, 

and thieves comparatively ; only *' tenths " and 
'^ hundredths," — the masses are respectable. 

But when the '' Wonderful Cousellor " Jesus came, 
he set aside that decision and went deeper into the 
" Text," declaring' that to be angry without a cause 
was criminal, to use epithets was more so — " to re- 
proach was condemning to the extremity of the 
Law." Have we not relapsed into the old grooves? 
Is it not common to say what you please, — use all 
the bitterness, — words dipped in gall about your fel- 
lows-man, just so you don't kill ? Are not respectable 
people by the thousand guilty of this reproaching 
business, who would faint at the thought of being a 
murderer ? It may be you are a murderer, your 
words, like poisoned arrow^s, festering in hearts to- 
day and producing " slow" death, death to some one 
may be that loves you, and yet the Master says to 
be angry without a cause is a crime. 



BY B. F. LAWLER. 37 



SERMOJN'. 



Preached at the First Baptist Church of Salem, 
ifEB., Srb Sabbath in August, 1877, 7 o'clock p. m. 



But whereunto shall I liken this generation ? It is like 
children sitting in the markets, and calhng unto their 
fellows, and saying, we have piped unto you, and ye 
have not danced, we have mourned unto you and ye 
have not lamented. Mat. 11 : 16, 17. 

John was an austere man. His soberness and 
rigid manners did not please the people to whom 
Jesus was speaking. He found no affinity there. 
Jesus came eating and drinking and that did not meet 
their approbation, did not find its counterpart in 
their minds. Jesus notices children in their play. 
They piped, but their fellows did not dance. They 
produced the music, but it found no response in the 
minds of their fellows ; their music did not find its 
kindred element there. Then they tried mourning, 
but all failed to move their fellows in play. Hence 
we learn that an element must exist within to cor- 
respond with that without before responses can be 
expected. 

We hope to be able to apply this lesson this even- 



38 SERMONS, LETTERS Al^D LECTURES, 

ing to ourselves, notwithstanding it was spoken 
directly to that generation to whom Jesus spoke. 
God has done much in the way of blessing us, lav- 
ishing upon us the good things of the world, calcu- 
lated to make us happy and to direct our minds to 
the giver of every good and perfect gift. Yet we 
consume the blessings and fail to respond to the 
promptings of our Father in heaven. He has 
spread out the beauties of nature, the fields, the 
rivers, the prairies with the crops, the fruits and the 
flowers in such beautiful harmony, it is a wonder 
that man does not praise God. We are wont to 
praise man. We say much in praise of painter and 
poets. Where shall we see a grander painting than 
the rainbow with its many tinted hues ? God has 
placed that in view without resting it upon an 
" easel," and yet who ever hears any one praise God 
for that? The starry curtain of night is far more 
beautiful than any Chinese work, and what sinner 
says, " how beautiful this and how great is He who 
made all these beauties." The sun does not march 
through the heavens to tell his own fame and show 
himself but as an exponent rather of the greatness 
of its author, and yet sinners think but little of that. 
The moon with its " broken reflections " should lead 
us to think of God, should cause us to praise him 
who made all things, to praise him with gladness 
and thanksgiving, and to continually serve him to 



BY B. F. LAWLER. 39 

the very best of our ability. Life and health are 
very desirable blessings, and come alone from God. 
We are wont to speak in great praise of physicians 
who cure us of diseases, or medicines even, which 
have given us relief, are advertised sometimes by 
daubing paint upon the fences. Who is heard to be 
extolling the name of God^ who gives us health and 
life ? God does all this and these, and we give him 
no song, no praise, — do not respond, but remain 
much like the churl. Our hearts will not break 
though Jesus knock, yea, though he plead in his 
tenderest strains : 

"Jesus speaks. He speaks to thee, 
Say, poor sinner, lovest thou me?'' 

Again, Jesus would teach us that the children, 
failing to elicit a response by piping, changed to 
mourning. God changes his dispensations. He 
sometimes sends distress to let us know something 
of the opposite of happiness. In mercy God does 
even this. It is mercy in God to acquaint us with 
misery before we are engulfed in it. He now turns 
the mournful picture to see whether we will lament, 
and alas ! we have not lamented. He sends the 
scourge^ he sends the drouth, he sends the devourer, 
he sends disease, and death^ but it seems that the 
fear of God is not before our eyes. His judgments 
without find no corresponding element within us. If 
we feared the wrath of God as we ought, as a people 



40 SERMONS, LETTERS Al^D LECTURES 



5 ^^jj^M^^x,^ ^a.1^ aj^k,j.kjsxs:j^, 



who have greatly sinned, we would lainent over our 
ingratitude ; we would lament over our '' follies 
past." If we were true children. we would fear the 
rod of the father. It is the alien that braves the 
authority ; all who are children are partakers of the 
chastisements of the father. JN^ot joyous are these 
chastisements, but grievous ; but yield the peaceable 
fruits of obedience to them who are exercised there- 
by. But the sinner has been mourned to — Grod has 
been faithful in warning you. His own Son wept 
over Jerusalem. Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not 
for me; but weep for yourselves, and for your 
children. God commanded the prophet to go into 
the city at one time and cry and sigh with the break- 
ing of his loins. And when they should ask him 
why he sighed thus, to tell them, because of the 
tidings ; for it is near at hand. Now Grod has given 
us the warnings of the gospel as well as its invit- 
ings. He holds heaven full to view by his prom- 
ises ; and hell has terrors to deter us from going- 
there. Heaven, with its beautiful songs of paradise, 
its white robes, its golden streets, and gates of 
pearl, to invite, to encourage, to prompt. The happy 
greeting of our Saviour who did so much for us, 
and of the loved ones gone before us, — these, all 
these, invite us to heaven ; but the counterpart3 
must be in our hearts. The little child would not 
reach for the beautiful flower if the exact counter- 



BY B. ¥. LAWLER. 41 

part was not in the child. Then the death that 
never dies ! We are warned in the Bible. The min- 
ister mourns for you, — pleads and begs and sighs 
with almost heart-breakings. The Apostle says : 
^•Knowing the terrors of the Lord, we. persuade 
men." If hearts are true, hell is certain; for the hearts 
of Grod's people tremble for those who are in danger 
of hell. '' Take the word," says Grod, to the prophet, 
''from my mouth, and give them warning from me." 
The message which the preacher bears is not his 
own message. He has the treasure in earthen ves- 
sels that the excellency of the power may be of God 
and not of us. What shall we say more to you, 
decir fi'iends ? We pray for you, we beseech you, we 
mourn to you ! If a lawyer will fall on his knees 
before a jury for a man's neck, why should not a 
minister beg for the souls of his j)eople ? ! to see 
so many marching on to the slaughter, without feel- 
ing their danger, — so many going to torment with- 
out dreading it, — going to torment so full of glee. 
! child, let me warn you ! ! friend let me 
mourn to you. Paul said he could wish himself ac- 
cursed for his brethren, his kinsmen according to 
the flesh. Paul, no doubt, had seen the other world 
in vision, whether in the body or out of the body he 
could not tell, hence his suffering so much for others 
that they might be saved. I remember a young 
man sentenced to the penitentiary, who was jesting 



42 SERMONS, LETTERS AND LECTURES, 

and sport-making with the sheriff and guards, until 
he came in sight of the grim old walls which would 
soon shut him in from all he loved, and, perhaps, 
from all that loved him ; — there he whimpered like 
a child. I tell you, sinner, you are condemned al- 
ready, because you believe not on the Lord Jesus 
Christj and soon you will be in sight of your eternal 
prison walls. No one there will love you, and if 
you but find those you loved, your suffering will 
only be augmented by their being there ; augmented, 
perhaps, by your having led them, in part, in the 
downward way. 

We shall continue to mourn to you and for you. 
How many desire to be remembered in prayer to 
God? Shall we know from your rising? May God 
in his great mercy help us. Amen. 

Hymn. — By and by we Shall meet him. 



BY B. F. LAWLER. 43 



SERMO^\ 



Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul ? — 

Mat. 16:26. 

Lay up for yourself treasures in heaven. It is 
marvelous to see the efforts of man in behalf of his 
body; its happiness, its general welfare, — subjecting 
himself to continuous labor for the things Avanting 
in this present life. All seems, to a casual observer, 
to be a preparation for this life. Houses are built, 
fuel provided, food, clothing, and a general " bill of 
fare." Man is a provident creature. The court- 
house up there, in which to try causes, in Avhich to 
prosecute or be prosecuted, is for the w^elfare of the 
body. Even the jail is to protect us from the hands 
of the unruly and the lawless. The State Capitol 
itself is for the benefit of the people. Here our laws 
are made and should be for our good. The original 
design was that it might benefit the people. Trees, 
and vines, (and no one loves a tree, fruit tree or 
vine more than I do, who once gave attention to bus- 
iness and who do not come to '' rail " on those who 
have such things) — proper and right are they. Yet 
I feel that a wonderful discrimination has been made, 
not so much for the body as against the soul. Some 



44 

men leave their stores when they turn the key and 
go home to their families to rest, to read, it is to be 
hoped, the Bible; others carry their stores home with 
them and sleep with them, failing to abstract the 
mind from business, even for rest. Many house- 
wives give far more time to the daily round of duties 
for their earthly homes than for the home on high. 
These, these ought to be done, but other things ought 
NOT to be left undone. 

The mind ! What shall I say about the mind ? 
This " fine pile," near by on this same lot, — a jani- 
tor employed, living in the basement, to take care of 
it, — teachers employed and paid,— all, all speak a 
language to me. Some providing for the intellect, 
some feeling for the minds of your children. What 
parent could bear to know that his or her child's 
mind should be neglected, stood aside, starved until 
it became a poor drivelling ? Men toil day in and 
day out in order to feed their children's minds— send 
their children to school. Mothers will scrimp and 
save and many of them dig in order to keep their 
children in school. This is all well enough. I blame 
you not for this or these. To see that your people 
have food and clothes, to provide for the execution 
of law, is well, is praiseworthy. To see such a school 
and school building as you have is very gratifying 
to every lover of mankind. 

But I come this afternoon to ask if you have any- 



BY B. F. LAWLER. 45 

thing you can call your own in heaven. Some of 
you have money in bank, some have real estate, 
some have learning, all of you have something here 
you call your own. What have you done for your 
soul ? Who, up there on the street, ever speaks a 
word for your soul ? What pleaders are employed 
on behalf of the better part of man ? Moody tells 
us a story of a lady who brought her child to her 
physician to have it cured of sore eyes. The doc- 
tor said, " Madame, your child is blind. You ought 
to have brought it here last week." '' Is \i possible^'' 
said the lady, ''that my poor child will never look 
in my face again ? " And she wrung her hands in 
agony. Some of you have blind souls. Some 
of your children have blind souls. You know 
that Nicodemus was told by the Lord that he could 
not see the kingdom of heaven unless he were born 
again. I do not come to scold you, but must tell 
you that you have discriminated severely against 
the soul. Poor Bunyan, as he stood and prayed for 
his blind Mary, only acted out the feelings of a true 
father's heart. He, too, prayed for the soul — gave 
up all for the gospel's sake. Poor soul, who cares 
for it ? I come to plead for it. Little Arthur said, 
" It wants the pleading of a brace of tongues for a 
pair of eyes." I do not know how many tongues 
make a brace, but I feel the importance of the 
pleading for the soul. How much more do we toil 



46 SERMONS, LETTERS AND LECTURES, 

for the body and for the mind than we do for the 
soul. Men study whole weeks and months to under- 
stand science, and how little do they think of the 
soul ! Even we who are trying to lay up treasures 
in heaven — how feeble our efforts. This building 
in which you worship means something, but is rather 
a feeble affair. The one over there is much better, 
yet compares feebly with this fine school building to 
our left. We have our evening or morning prayers 
and frequently say, " We'll omit the reading to- 
night.'' We rise from our hasty prayers and think 
so little about our treasures " up there." I come to 
persuade you to not neglect the better part ; Mary 
hath chosen the better part, which shall not be taken 
away from her, 'Tis true you support your minis- 
ters and are making contributions for the gospel. 
But the soul is as an Orphan^ neglected and forlorn, 
— has lost the power of speech — is no longer heard. 
Its voice is hushed. Conscience ceases to remon- 
strate, and quick will be its exit from the stage to 
the pit of woe. 

I saw a man this day whose soul seemed indeed 
dead to every sense of shame or sin. Who is plead- 
ing for his soul ? Perhaps he has no father or mother 
or loving sister to pray for him ! Thousands of souls 
are now being sold for naught. When Rowland 
Hill was preaching one time he saw the carriage of 
a lady of distinction passing, and he said ''A soul is 



BY B. F. LAWLER. 47 

for sale here to-day. Who bids ? It is the soul of 
this fine lady," or words to that effect. Satan bids. 
The world bids. Who shall have your soul ? It is 
said that she alighted from her carriage and, kneel- 
ing, said: "The Lord Jesus shall have my soul." 
Pray for the soul ! Pray ! Pray ! 

But what treasure have I in heaven ? Some of you 
have parents there, — perhaps children, too. I have 
no fig tree of my own to bloom, no herd in the 
stall, but I have a loving father and mother " over 
there." I know they loved me. Even when I was 
a big boy they would fling their arms around my 
neck and pray for me. I know they loved me. 
Children, too, await my coming "over there." But 
better than all, I have a Saviour there, one who ever 
loves me. He comes to my heart soothingly in 
trouble. He'll never forsake me. He says, " I will 
be with you alway, even unto the end of the world." 
Lay up treasures in heaven. May the Lord bless 
you all. Amen. 



48 SEEMONS, LETTERS AND LECTURES 



SERMON'. 



Preached in Salem, InTeb., on the Fifth Sunday in 

March, 1878. 



And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance and 
judgment to come, Felix trembled. Acts 24 : 25. 

Paul was a great reasoner, and had studied God's 
word and preached through so many years of peril, 
that he was amply qualified to point out to the proud 
Felix and Drusilla the things comparable to those 
which would be requisite to their entering into 
heaven at last. As much as to say, there is an 
examination day coming concerning which he would 
give them an outline, and we learn that the keen 
logic made Felix tremble. 

Righteousness is a law term and has to do with 
our welfare, is an index to what we must be if we 
are saved from eternal wrath. It is great mercy in 
God to inform the people of the exactions expected 
from them — every one in the great day of General 
Assize — that the law has not been abrogated, but 
fulfilled in Christ Jesus; so that when we are in- 
formed in regard to the severity of the law we can 



BY B. F. LAWLER. 49 

turn to Jesus, — by faith, appropriate him and be 
saved. Jesus kept the whole law and he that hath 
Jesus hath life. Blest thought— embracing Christ 
we fulfill the law — magnify the law — by faith. 

The irregular and sinful lives of Felix and Dru- 
silla must have suffered greatly under the scathing- 
review of one whose soul was all aglow with the love 
of Grod and whose heart was entirely subdued by 
grace, as certainly Paul's was. Such a striking con- 
trast must have had an influence over his royal au- 
ditors as their own sins loomed up in such dark 
columns before them in the light of inspiration, 
coming from inspired life. The apostle here unfolds 
a map to the gaze of this royal pair, of which Felix 
at least must have been ignorant. What a volume 
is here open to our minds. Have I that righteous- 
ness. Shall I be able to '' recite " the claims of that 
righteous law in the presence of the great King ? 
Does my heart condemn me ? God is greater than 
my heart and will condemn me also. 

Temperance is but a combination of the same 
lesson, with a modification perhaps, and may have 
brought to their minds recollections of intemperate 
habits and consequent inability to attend to import- 
ant business. Reasoned of temperance. Even in 
our own recollection the social glass was passed to 
guests in the parlor as a part of the entertainment, 
and it was said, in some instances, detained some of 



50 SEKMONS, LETTERS AND LECTURES, 

the company instead of entertaining them. Queen 
Vashti was divorced as a result of the use of "much 
wine." For the Apostle to give this monster, intem- 
perance, a blow right in the king's court, himself 
being a prisoner, was no ordinary affair. The Apos- 
tle, however, sent the '' shot" crashing through the 
circumscribed ''high place" until it found Felix' 
heart — he trembled. It were well for us to appro- 
priate the lesson and discourage the use of that 
which so surely disqualifies men for the business of 
this present life and happiness in the life to come. 
Many of the woes now overshadowing the hearts and 
homes of our people, are traceable to this monster 
intemperance. 

Paul shunned not to declare the whole counsel of 
God. What a wonderful thing for a prisoner to 
stand up in the presence of great folks and show 
them their sins. Should I be on my journey to a 
new home here, bearing along with me what you 
know would give me trouble, perhaps debar me the 
home, you would reason with me, — persuade me to 
leave it off. Paul was caught up to the third 
heaven ; had heard words not lawful to utter. He 
knew well that it would never do to go to the other 
world unprepared, — knowing the terrors of the Lord 
he would persuade men, — drunkards cannot inherit 
the kingdom of heaven. We commend this thought 
to your careful consideration. Much of the moral 



BY B. F. LAWLER. 51 

paralysis now in the world can be traced to intem- 
perance. The prisons and asylums have their quota 
from this prolific source of sin. 

Of judgment to come. — This part of the text, — the 
judgment, — is the most engrossing thought that oc- 
cupies my mind. When I see the magistrate ar- 
raigning men for crime, I see something faintly 
analogous to the '' judgment to come." When I see 
you present your accounts and demand settlement, 
you furnish analogy for a general judgment when 
all accounts must be met. The great judge will 
" quadrate " all things in that day by that perfect 
man, Jesus Christ. When your courts are open to 
try causes; .when juries are impannelled ; when 
judges take their seats; when the cries from the 
court house door calls aloud and anon for men to 
come into court ; when officers summon men to ap- 
pear ; when the docket is called ; all, all these, re- 
mind me of the great day which is coming fast. 
The merchant who opens his books and draws off 
accounts, reminds me that the ''books are to be 
opened, and another book is to be opened which is 
the book of life." When we hold our children to 
strict account, we should remember that our father 
" up there " is watching all the '' paths we try." 
When we hold our fellow men to account for the 
manner in which they treat us, we furnish ourselves 
with the very lessons we must heed, if we meet God 



52 SERMONS, LETTERS Al^D LECTURES, 

in peace. Our conduct toward our fellow men is all 
preserved and will be on the docket as it occurred, 
and must be met. The king and his subject, the 
master and his servant, the parent and his child. 
Will find a perfect record of life's transactions, and 
the dead will be judged out of the books according 
to their works. 

Some w^onderful things are discovered in these 
days. The telephone, conducting the vibrations of 
the human voice, wdth its exact intonations, through 
the atmosphere for miles, is enough to startle us, 
We are told that pebbles dropped in water produce 
waves that reach the farther shore. Is it so with 
vibrations in atmosphere ? Is it true that everything 
uttered still lives somewhere? It is said the phono- 
graph preserves the human voice, from which it can 
be reproduced exactly. If men by mere mechanism 
can reproduce the human voice, how much more can 
God who made all things. 0, my brethren, these 
thoughts have weighed heavily upon me during the 
preparation of this sermon. An awful solemn feel- 
ing has rested upon me during the past week. My 
soul sways and bends under this stupendous sub- 
ject. The judgment to come ! The judgment to 
come ! Prepare to meet thy God, 0, soul ! Prepare, 
prepare, for the world to come ! Is it possible that 
Gcd is keeping my very words with all their intona- 
tions all complete to be reproduced in the judgment? 



BY B. r. LAWLER. 53 

And is my life such as will do to keep ? If the book 
is full of blots and many things I do not wish to see, 
what shall I do to have the record changed, to have 
my sins blotted out ? Peter tells us to repent and be 
converted, that our sins may be blotted out, and the 
times of refreshing should come from the Lord. 
Thank God that there is forgiveness of sins. Jesus 
is our righteousness, and he will render (has ren- 
dered) perfect satisfaction to his Father for every 
one that believeth. Praise his holy name ! " Though 
your sins be as scarlet they may be white as wool. 
Though they be red like crimson they shall be white 
as snow." In conclusion, may we not exhort you, 
dear friends, to seek the favor of God immediately^ 
through Jesus Christ, the righteous. The tangled 
meshes of your past lives are too much for your 
skill to make straight ; too deep is the guilt to be 
reached by human skill. You must seek perfect 
righteousness in Christ the Lord. He will meet 
every requirement of the violated law, if you but 
submit your case to him and trust in him. He 
pleased his Father when here in this world ; there 
at his baptism the Father said, this is my beloved 
Son in whom I am well pleased. Most merciful 
God ! May we all meet the judgment to come, clothed 
in the righteous merits of Jesus Christ, thy dear 
Son, and all will be well. Amen. 



54 JSERMONS, LETTERS AND LECTURES, 



SERMON. 



First Baptist Church, Salem, ITeb., 7 o^clock p. m. 
January 5, 1878. 



When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye 
also appear with him in glory. Col. 3 : 5. 

When men have relinquished their hold upon one 
loved object after another until all is gone, — even 
health, friends, fortune, life, — and turn to the bourn 
whence no traveller returns to find — nothing on 
which to rest, — to find that all is gone, — then is a 
time of sorrow ! 

On the other hand, he who has something left, 
something that had not been reached by the des- 
truction, has great reason to be happy. Our business 
to-night will be to speak of the benefit of having 
another life hid away, — not used at all, — not dimin- 
ished by any loss sustained by this present life. 
" When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then 
shall ye also appear with him in glory." Christians 
have two lives, present and future. When called 
upon to give up this one they have a better and more 
enduring one in heaven ; that has never been drawn 



BY B. F. LAWLER. 55 

upon in a material sense ; — another estate, — one en- 
tirely beyond the reach of mortal disaster ; that life, 
hid with Christ in God. The great difference be- 
tween Christians and sinners is that the one is prov- 
ident and the other is not so. Some provide for 
winter, — shelter, food, clothing, — and they are pre- 
pared for it. You remember the story of provident 
Ben : he astonished his companions in sport by being 
provided against emergencies. So will it be found 
in the '' day to come." Men and women will then 
be known to be in possession of vast wealth of which 
the world knew nothing. I knew a very ordinary 
appearing old gentleman, the object of much sport 
by the boys. One who knew him, said, ^' Boys, that 
old man can buy all of you put together ; " — had 
vast wealth not in sight. So with Christians ; they 
appear very much as other people do, — they have 
sickness and distress, — may be poor, — may be de- 
prived of the comforts of life, but their realty, — real 
estate has never been touched. When this life is 
gone they have another and a better on high from 
which nothing can separate them. It makes a busi- 
ness man feel good when floating about among the 
broken wrecks of his fortune, to know that there is 
coming to him by will^ the provisions of which for- 
ever demur against any claim whatsoever, a great 
estate. So Paul : " Who shall separate us from 
the love of God ?" Shall the sword, or peril, di§- 



56 SERMONS, LETTERS AND LECTURES, 

tress or tribulation? I am persuaded that neither 
hight nor depth, principalities nor powers, things 
i)rese7it nor things to cowe^ shall be able to separate 
us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 
When Jesus comes we will be Avith him, — blessed 
thought. You have been giving presents to your 
children. You have seen them filled with joy upon 
receiving the gifts. And what parent has not had 
his or her heart almost leap for joy when making 
the children glad ? Think you that our Father up 
there will not be pleased to make his children happy 
in heaven ? He will! And will you not then be for 
drying your tears and hushing your sighs, when you 
find yourselves with Christ in heaven? Did you 
ever see two brothers meet, who had been parted 
long time, and after the salutations, have you not 
seen them walk adown the lawn, and did they not 
talk together, and walk close together, and almost 
become one ? Think you not that Jesus, our Elder 
Brother, will come close to^you and say, " Come ye 
blessed of my Father." You have had a hard time 
in the world, with your heart almost broke, — it is 
all over now. And will you not be for telling him 
about his love to you all these years of sorrow, and 
how he had never deserted you when others had ? 
You will be happy then. Then let trial come ; let 
all things of earth take wings and fly away, — my 
eternal life remains. Even victory, at last, is mine. 



BY B. F. LAWLER. 57 

Then seeing we have this treasure, let us be coura- 
geous, — do our duty to God and man, — stand hard 
by our post until the time appointed, theji as good 
Baxter says, till theii ; afterward all will be well. 
Then all this people will be joyful in God their 
Saviour and never know a sorrow there. When 
Christ shall appear ! glorious thought. I then 
shall see my loved ones gone before, — they'll be 
there. It has been a long, long time since I saw 
them, but then^ the tkeii^ when we shall appear 
with him in glory. Jesus means that you are to 
be prepared for that glory. Suppose I should be- 
come heir to the crown of Enoiand to-morrow. 
You would all laugh to see one, so little qualified to 
wear a crown, in such a place, having never been 
trained for it. So Jesus would have you ready for 
that glorious occasion, so that you will be easy in 
such a high station, giving honor to God the Father, 
and the Son, and the Spirit. In order to do this, 
study the lessons Jesus gives in parable and symbol, 
line upon line, and precept upon precept. May the 
Good Lord lead us by His unerring counsel that we 
may be fully prepared to be with Him in glory. 

But to the unconverted. Is all you possess here 
in this world ? All, — and no interest whatever in 
the future ? When you shall be compelled to aban- 
don all and turn to step down — where ? turn to look 
away to what — to whom ? This is the most painful 



58 SERMONS, LETTERS AND LECTURES, 

thought to me. Are you a man of business ? When 
icebergs are floating about you and you are anxious 
and thoughtful because of the financial sea of trou- 
ble, it will do you good to fall on your knees and in 
prayer to God roll some of the heavy burden upon 
His strong arm. You'll feel better. Are you a 
young man, and is your little boat strong and new, 
and is there a clear sky overhead ? You would bet- 
ter pray to Grod that He will protect you against " com- 
ing storms " during your voyage of life. Are you a 
lady, even in middle life ? go to God in prayer that 
He may give you eternal life, — a life that has no 
end. There they never grow old or w^eary. 

To live to toil, to weep, to suffer and finally to 
die, having seen but little pleasure, and launch out 
upon a yawning ocean with nothing, absolutely noth- 
ing, worse than nothing, is the saddest picture my 
mind ever contemplated. Poor suffferer, have you 
seen trouble all your days ? And are you still in a 
fair way to never, never find peace ? How the good 
wife pities her husband when he is out in the cold 
storm earning bread or clothing for the family. 
" Ah," she says, " I must make home comfortable 
for him when he comes in." But the poor sinner is 
storm-tossed all his life long and then, — and then 
what unhappiness forever and ever. Sinner, seek 
the Saviour. Give Him your heart, and tell Him 
to keep it for you till by and by. It will be safe 



BY B. r. LAWLER. 59 

there. And then when life is no more with you on 
earth, you'll be with Christ. Amen. 



60 SERMOKS, LETTERS AND LECTURES, 



SERMON. 



Funeral of Mrs. Jennie SAPPiNaTON, Preached in 
Windsor Baptist Church, Mo., 3d Sabbath in 

November, 1877. 



[The text chosen by sister Sappington herself, 
near two years ago, from which her funeral was to 
be preached, is found in the 23d Ps., 4th verse :] 

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of 
death, I will fear no evil ; for thou art with me ; thy rod 
and thy staff they comfort me. 

Sister Sappington was well known among you and 
needs no eulogium from me ; as these hundreds of 
faces present speak for her. She was a faithful 
member of this church for many years, and leaves a 
husband and her dear children to mourn her loss. 

The introduction of this chapter is itself equal to 
a volume : " The Lord is my Shepherd ; I shall not 
want." How expressive this language! It seems 
that her interpretation was correct ; as she had adop- 
ted the sentiment during her life, she evidently 
applied it to the journey, or part of the journey, of 



BY B. F. LAWLEB. 61 

life. Literally the road from Jerusalem to Jericho 
had some ^' deep momitain passes," — spoken of by 
modern travellers as very dark and gloomy, in 
which the thieves, which Jesus tells U3 of, took occa- 
sion to rob and beat the poor man whom the good 
Samaritan took to the inn. This dangerous road 
may have been in the mind of David when he wrote 
this beautiful text. There are other things which 
strongly imply that this all comes not to us in death 
alone, but part, at least, is felt during the journey. 
We remark the peculiar wording, — " The valley of 
the shadow of death," both in the genitive case. 
Through the valley — What valley ? The valley of 
the shadow — Shadow of what? Shadow of death. 
We are told that those dark places on the moon are 
the shadows of mountains, or rather deep valleys, 
into which the light can not go. We know very 
well that some of our mountain gorges do not admit 
the light. It is so also in the moral world as it is in 
the physical world. Not death itself, but the valley 
of^/^e shadow of death. 'Tis said that '' coming events 
cast their shadows before." If the shadows make us 
grow chilly, what will the reality be ? But our sis- 
ter said, '' Though this valley I must pass I will fear 
no evil." These deep mountain gorges in the moral 
world are to be passed through. Travelers expect 
them and find them. Jesus himself was a man of 
sorrows. All testify to this fact more or less. Why 



62 SERMONS, LETTERS AND LECTURES, 

should we act as though some strange thing had 
happened? When tribulation cometh why be 
amazed ? Jesus tells us we shall have tribulation 
in the world. There are times when we pass along 
on the even plain of life, — there are times when we 
are permitted higher grounds of faith and hope, but 
again we descend into the deep, dark valley where 
we cannot see the '' sun," perhaps only a single star 
— a single promise in all the Book. 

Another evidence to us that it means life as well 
perhaps as death, is the fact of the rod and the staflf, 
— ^the rod to guide or control, and sometimes to chas- 
tise, — especially the latter — would not be needed in 
death. The staff or stave, with which shepherds 
drive away the dogs, is spoken of in connection with 
the rod — rod and staff. The staff, the precious 
promise of our blessed Lord to sustain us. A staff 
supports unsteady feet, the rod adjunct over against 
the staff, afflictions along with the promises. We 
used to hear a beautiful song, " Pass under the rod," 
and how many times are God's, people called upon 
to pass under the rod ! Again, we used to hear 
some people speak of the " Bitter Sweet," a kind of 
medicinal vine. This thought when brought into 
the moral world has a wonderful significance. Rod 
and staff, — ^' Bitter Sweet," — even the chastisements 
themselves have a sweet in them, because we know 
that it is in love — our Father cannot spare us, can«= 



BY B. F. LAWLER. 63 

not give us over to the enemy. Did you ever 
observe the shepherd among his sheep with the 
''crook" in his hand? See him as that wonderful 
" crook " dips here and there, now rather abruptly 
draws one toward him by way of correction, and how 
the sheep all seem to fear him. A well-trained sheep 
knows well that if it get too far from the fold the 
" crook " will reach out for it ; and, though it be not 
joyous but grievous, yet yieldeth the peaceable fruits 
of obedience. Again, the shepherd goes among the 
flock and says, ^' here is one that is too weak for this 
fold. I must mark it for the upper fold," and so dips 
the rod and designates some one. It may be a 
lamb, may be some of the feeble sheep, and the 
angels come and take them away. Oh how I have 
cringed this way and that way when that '' crook " 
was dipping among the flock, lest it should be my- 
self or mine. Oh how painful it is to see our dear 
children taken away ! Thy rod and thy staff*, they 
comfort me. Aye, my beloved, it gives us happi- 
ness to know that God thinks enough of us, so to 
speak, to chastise us. He will never leave us. I 
will fear no evil, for thy rod and thy staff" they 
comfort me. 

It has been said that in the seventh trouble (in 
death) we are not to be forsaken. Bunyan tells us 
about the land of Beulah. If we understand him 
he refers to the setting sun of the day of life. Pre- 



64 SERMOJSrS, LETTERS Al^B LECTURES, 

cious in the eyes of the Lord, is the death of his 
saints. We do believe that God's people, dying in 
their right minds, many of them, do have visions of 
eternal glory while yet in this world , — that many 
of them die in sight of the beautiful city. As morn- 
ing light is refracted in bent rays from the air above 
us, so the light from heaven is often felt by dying 
Christians. Some evenings, naturally, are beauti- 
fully grand ! The closing of the chapter of life, — 
to depart and be with Christ, ! what a joy to the 
pilgrim leaning on his guide. I fought a good fight, 
I have kept the faith. Sometimes the vail grows so 
thin that we can almost see the gates of pearl. The 
last days of my own beauttful boy (Jamie) whom I 
have so lately put away in that new, strange ceme- 
tery, even those days seemed to be his brightest 
days, — had passed through the shadows and storms, 
and now a few more days and all is well. Sitting 
with me in my study, he told me, only a few weeks 
before his death, that he was ready, his w^ay was 
clear. So with this sister, in some degree. She 
sat just down the aisle there only two short weeks 
ago, looking as well as she had for a time. The 
end was near. One more step and she is there. 
Lazarus was not known to many persons, but the 
angels knew him, — came and took him to heaven. 
Angels come for God's children, blessed be God, 
and take them to Him who loved them, and gave 
Himself for them. 



BY B. F. LAWLER. 65 

I do not feel that I can conclude till I have turned 
to the 7th chapter of Rev., 13th verse, in regard to 
the " Home of the Blest." ''And one of the elders 
answered, saying, What are these which are arrayed 
in white robes and whence came they ? And I said 
unto him, Sir thou knowest. And he said unto me, 
These are they who have come up through great 
tribulation and have washed their robes and made 
them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore 
are they before the throne of God and serve Him 
day and night in this temple. And He that sitteth 
on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall 
hunger no more neither thirst any more." Your 
mother, dear children, is in that beautiful temple. 
Solomon's temple was grand, but could be only 
faintly analogous to the grand city to which we go- 
Your mother made a very deep impression upon 
you. I never saw children obey a mother better. 
She taught you the truth in regard to God and 
heaven. She will speak to you no more on earth- 
Long days and nights will come and pass away, but 
she will come to you no more. But, 

" Should the scoffer in his pride 
Laugh that fond faith to scorn, 
And bid you cast the pledge aside, 
Which you from youth have borne ; 
I bid you pause and ask your breast 
If she (your mother) or he (the scoffer) had loved, 
you best." 



66 SERMONS, LETTERS AND LECTURES, 

I never saw children give such attention to a sick 
mother, standing by her till I thought your little feet 
must ache. May God keep you from all harm. 
She will never thirst any more. How gladly did 
you bring her the fresh cup of water. Jesus will 
lead her by the fountains of water in heavon. I 
wish you to know that we believe and teach that 
there is a home to which God's people immediately 
go when they die. May every one of you be pre- 
pared to go when the time comes. No tears are 
there. JN'o sickness. God will, with his own hand, 
wipe all our tears from our eyes. My dear brother, 
a double burden now falls on your heart. May God 
help you to bear it. You need His grace. Oh, I 
pray for you ! What a precious charge falls upon 
your hands! Stand firmly, my brother, till God 
calls you home. Your trials in this world will be 
sharp. Pray to God much for His blessings upon 
yourself and these precious children. 

The community have lost one of their valued citi- 
zens, and the Church, the dear old Church, has lost 
one of its best friends in the death of sister Sapping- 
ton. May God give us all grace to be faithful in 
His service, is my prayer. Amen. 



BY B. F. LAWLER. 67 



SERMON. 



Funeral of Bro. John B. Evans, Clerk of Prairie 
Union Baptist Church, May 6th, 1878. 



Reading, as an introduction, latter part of 3d 
chap., 2nd Samuel, concerning Abner : "A prince 
and a great man has fallen in Israel to-day." 

Text, Isaiah 38 : 1. Set thy house in order. 

We are called upon to render this last service in 
putting away the body of our beloved brother Evans. 
Our text is the injunction of the Lord by the 
prophet to Hezekiah, the good king, to set his house 
in order, that he should die and not live. We learn 
that the king turned his face to the wall and prayed, 
asking God to remember him and the services he 
had rendered in re-establishing the temple service ; 
and God heard his prayer, and added unto his days 
fifteen years. The same God who added fifteen 
years to the days of Hezekiah hath not answered 
our prayers, adding fifteen years to the days of our 
brother. The same loving Father has done both of 
these things. When Jesus told Peter that he was 



68 SERMOT^S, LETTERS AND LECTURES, 

to stretch forth his hands, referring, it is supposed, 
to his crucifixion, Peter, turning to John, said, ''x\nd 
what shall this man do?" Jesus saith unto him, 
'' If I will that he tarry till I come what is that to 
thee? Follow thou me." The same loving Saviour 
did both of these things — allowed John, we are told, 
to die at home in his own bed, while Peter, it is said, 
was crucified. Our brother is taken aAvay so soon, 
in the prime of life, after having gotten ready to 
live. Do we murmur ? Hear we not the voice of the 
Master, " What is that to thee ? " Hear we not the 
same voice, " Follow thou me ? " What is this to us ? 
Jesus knows what He is doing, — has a right to take 
the best to Himself. Who has a garden and has not 
a right to cull the choicest flowers ? 

Reference may be had to Hezekiah's domestic 
affairs. Many of us make crooked paths. The sur- 
veyor looks back and sees his devious movements 
and makes corrections accordingly. The farmer 
looks through his new-made furrow and sees where 
it could be made better and straighter. It was 
mercy in God to give the king warning to make such 
corrections as were necessary. Many have left 
wrong impressions which ought to be corrected — 
may have given a certain ^^bent" to other minds it 
were well to straighten before we go before the 
Judge. 

Set thy house in order. I am happy to know that 



By b. f. lawler. 69 

brother Evans' domestic aflfairs are in excellent con- 
dition. He leaves a good home for his family, paid 
for. When he took me to Hayes' school-house for 
afternoon sermon six weeks ago, he told me that his 
debts were paid. Not every good man can say so 
much. Many good men are to-day struggling under 
heavy debt, feebly resisting its accumulating waves 
and may be they will never rise above them. N^ot 
every one has this favored lot. His business affairs 
are in good condition, his house in order. 

Set your houses in order morally. Brother Evans, 
by his exactness in regard to moral honesty, has fixed 
upon his family indelible impressions that have be- 
come a part of their being, so to speak. Honest, 
fair dealing with one's neighbor is setting the house 
in order. Children, your father leaves a good record, 
a good example. No danger, my brethren, of bad 
consequences following such an example. 

But there is another and higher " order " to which 

we call your attention. " Prepare to meet thy Grod, 

Israel ! " was heeded by our brother sixteen years 

ago. Just as he was fairly entering the great battle 

of life, he gave his heart to Grod, and He can safely 

keep 

" What he committed to his hand 

Till the decisive hour.'^ 

A young man in the war had a Bible, a present to 
him, and a few mementos which he had brought from 



70 SERMOKS, LETTERS AND LECTURES, 

home. A battle was pending. The sullen boom of 
distant artillery was already heard. He gave the 
mementos into the hand of a friend in the hospital, 
giving directions concerning them, and then went 
into the battle, not knowing whether he should stand 
or fall. So brother Evans, as he entered the great 
battle of life, gave his soul into the care and keeping 
of God '' until the decisive hour." It is decided and 
God has rewarded him with a crown. 

He took much interest in the church, getting it in 
^^ order ^'^ Such concern as he manifested for the 
welfare of the church shows his allegiance to his 
God. One matter I must mention. I was looking 
through my book-case, rifling out the pigeon-holes — 
strange I should do so just last week, and found an 
old letter from brother Williams, stating that " Just 
as they opened Sunday School two brethren came 
over from Prairie Union, a few miles north, to see 
about getting you to come to Nebraska to preach for 
us." One of those very brethren lies here in the 
coffin. He was so anxious to have a pastor and to 
see the church prosper, — to put in ^^ order " the things 
w^anting in God's house. In the bestowment of 
money and time, the comfort of his family came first, 
but if there were a second place to be considered, that 
place must have been from the evidence the church 
of God. He could have used money differently, 
but in common with you, some of you who do not 



BY B. F. LAWLEE. 71 

belong to church even, he gave money for this build- 
ing and to support the ministry, economizing on him- 
self instead of the church. The church stands as a 
monument, not the building only, biit the church ; 
in the organization and support of which he stood 
nobly up even in the fearful times of distress in this 
new State. To ^' set in order" the services of the 
house of the Lord was to him a matter of vital im- 
portance. God permitted him to mingle his voice 
in the offerings of praise at this altar. Only two 
weeks ago last Sabbath he was here leading the 
music, and I thought it so much better than usual. 
Who could have thought that his last time to come 
and bring his family and sit here with them in the 
house of God. The church sustains a great loss. I, 
as pastor, feel it deeply. God has called upon us 
for an important work here, — seemingly thwarting 
the whole matter by removing so important part of 
the instrumentality. Yet it is our Father who has 
done this. We bow before Him and would say^ Thy 
will be done. We can say of our brother, regard- 
ing his personal efforts in all the relations of life, 
Well done, thou soldier of the cross ! 

My dear sisters, we have been through trials of 
this kind before you. We know how bitter is the 
sorrow and ask God to help you bear it. Chil- 
dren, your father can never come to you, but you 
can go to him, and all of you may meet him in heaven. 



72 SEBMOirS, LETTEBS AKD LECTURES, 

His farewell to you was the most affectionate : ^'Fare- 
well until the resurrection morning." What faith 
is here expressed : Till the resurrection morn ! Till 
then we will wait ; then we shall see him. 

What shall w^e say in regard to the application 
of the text to us ? Are \ve ready ? Is our house in 
order? Any matter of unfinished business ? Any 
sad mistakes to correct ? May God bless and save 
us all. Amen. 



BY B. y^. LAWLEB. 73 



THE COVENANTS. 



Eead Before the Nebraska State Convention at 

Peru, Neb. 



I shall first acknowledge myself indebted to Dr. 
Grraves, of " The Baptist/' for citation of the cove- 
nants, and, passing over the meaning of the word 
'' covenant," shall notice : 

is^. The Adamic Covenant^ Genesis 2 : 17. — "But 

of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou 

shalt not eat of it ; for in the day thou eatest thereof 

thou shalt surely die." Here, feeble man being a 

party to the covenant, failure and disaster followed, 

of which we all are partakers, coming from 

"Adam whose guilty fall 
Corrupts his race and ' taints ^ us all.^^ 

In 1st Cor. 15 : 47, Adam is regarded as typical of 
Christ, like him in some respects, but not so as a cove- 
nant-keeper by any means. The first man of the 
earth, earthy — the second Adam the Lord from 
heaven. Again, in Romans 5 : 17 : For if by one 
man's oftense death reigned by one ; much more 
they which receive abundance of grace and the gift 



^ 74 SERMONS, LETTERS AND LECTIJRESy 

of righteousness, shall reign in the life by one, Jesus 
Christ. 

Covenant with Noah^ Genesis 9 : 9. — " Behold, I es- 
tablish my covenant with you, and your seed after 
you, and with every living thing that is with you." 

The bow, called the Rainbow, is the sign of this 
covenant. God being the voluntary and responsible 
party, it rests with him. A bow is spoken of in 
Revelations as being round about the throne of God, 
a symbol of mercy to man. God refers to this cove- 
nant in Isaiah 54 : 9 : For this is as the waters of 
Noah unto me ; for as I have sworn that the waters 
of Noah should no more go over the earth, so have I 
sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor re- 
buke thee. It seems that God refers to the great 
"Atoner" to come, in whom he should find perfect 
satisfaction touching His Law, with reference to 
" every one that believeth." 

Covenant with Abraham^ Genesis 12:1 . — ^^ Now the 
Lord hath said unto Abraham : Get out from the 
country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's 
house, unto a land which I will show thee, and I will 
make of thee a great nation." This covenant is con- 
firmed Gen. 17 : 9, concluding with the law of circum- 
cision, referring directly to the possession of Canaan, 
fixing the lineage of which Christ would be born. 
Not a type of Baptism at all, as some suppose ; for 
had it been, that notable council in Jerusalem (see 



BY B. F. LAWLE^. 75 

Acts 15 : 24) would have been settled then and there. 
Both were allowed by the great Apostle in the case 
of Timothy (see Acts 16 : 3) and Titus also was com- 
pelled to be circumcised as a Jewish rite. As to 
baptism coming in its stead, no such thing seems to 
enter their minds. Zachariah, in Luke 1 : 71, refers 
to this covenant when he speaks of being saved from 
our enemies, being Jews, and from the hand of them 
that rise up against us. 

Sinaitic Covenant^ Exodus 19:3. — '^ And Moses 
went up unto God, and the Lord called unto him 
out of the mountains, saying : Thus shalt thou say 
unto the house of Jacob, and tell the children of 
Israel." Here the Law is given, the ten command- 
ments, enjoining obedience, and the promise given 
that Israel should be a peculiar treasure unto the 
Lord. 

This covenant cannot be too strongly urged upon 
the people, in order that the depth and breadth 
might be apprehended, enabling all to appreciate the 
perfect work of Him who magnified the law in all 
its parts and who is so willing to confer the benefit 
of His suffering upon those who believe on Him. 

In Deuteronomy, as the word signifies, a second 
law is given, retaining, however, the substance of 
the first. 

The next covenant in order was made with Phin- 
eas, Numbers 25 : 10. This occurred in one of those 



76 SERMONS, LETTERS AND LECTURES, 

times which tried the souls of men ; when scandal, 
like a thick vapor, seemed to shroud the people in 
gloom. Hear what Grod says : 

'' And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Phin- 
eas the son of Eleazer, the son of Aaron the priest, 
hath turned my wrath away from the children of 
Israel, (while he was zealous for my sake among 
them) that I consumed not the children of Israel in 
my jealousy. Wherefore, sa}^. Behold, I give unto 
him my covenant of peace ; and he shall have it, 
and his seed after him, even the covenant of an 
everlasting priesthood ; because he was zealous for 
his God, and made an atonement for the children of 
Israel." 

Covenant with David^ 2d Samuel^ 7:11. 

^' And as since the time that I commanded Judges 
to be over my people Israel, and have caused thee 
to rest from all thine enemies. Also the Lord tell- 
eth thee, that He will make for thee a house." 

^' And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt 
sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after 
thee^ which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and 
will establish his kingdom." This covenant is spo- 
ken of in Ezekiel 34 : 23. ^'And I will set up one 
shepherd over them and he shall feed them, even 
my servant David ; he shall feed them and he shall 
be their shepherd." 

We have now referred to six covenants. 



BY B. y. LAWLER. 77 

The first, with Adam, in which we find no conso- 
lation for him should he fall, and he fell. Believers 
find no real comfort in learning that enmity was put 
between the serpent and the seed of the woman, — 
nothing more than that man should bruise the ser- 
pent's head— -inflict the greater injury, while the 
serpent should bruise his heel, only. This seems to 
be a curse pronounced upon the serpent, — no cove- 
nant of grace, nor necessarily promising a Re- 
deemer, — instead, it seems that a ''flame sword" 
turning every way to guard the tree of life, was 
placed over the entrance to the garden, after man 
was driven out. 

JS'or yet does the covenant with IN'oah reach the 
soul of man. It refers to temporal security. There 
should be no more flood upon the earth, reaching 
unto the beasts and birds as well as man. Yet this 
is a grand covenant, the symbol of which is the 
beautifully grand dow on the cloud. That bow of 
promise is as unfading as its promise is unfailing. 
The better covenant has its symbols, too, and when 
we see them spanning the clouds which sometimes 
darken our moral sky, we '' thank Grod and take 
courage." 

The covenant with Abraham concerning Canaan 
is interesting to us by reason of association, its his- 
tory as connected with that people of whom Christ 
came, — especially because it tells us something of 



78 SERMOIN^S, 

the standing that the " Father of the faithful," had 
with God because of his faith, which penetrated the 
fountain underneath the throne of heaven, which 
faith was counted to Abraham for righteousness. 
As Gentiles we are grafted into this lineage by faith 
and not by blood as the Jews are. This covenant 
was for the Jews as a nation, and circumcision was 
the rite. Had there been no covenant of redemp- 
tion prior to Abraham's day, where were Abel and 
Enoch? What became of IN'oah, a preacher of 
righteousness, in such dark and fearful times and 
under so many discouragements ? 

Then again, we notice the giving of the Law, over 
there on the peninsula, at Sinai. The awful grand- 
eur displayed there inspires us with awe and rever- 
ence for God, and has a tendency to make man think 
less of himself than anything else ; unless it be that 
searching Spirit which knows the hearts and tries 
the reins, setting our sins in order before us. And 
yet all this furnishes us no salvation only as it brings 
us to Christ. 

The covenant of Phineas can do nothing more for 
us than serve as an incentive to proper action, in the 
use of proper means, in such times as call for fidel- 
ity to God and his precious cause. 

The covenant with David, studied in connection 
with his life and the special work God called him to 
do, is very profitable to all who study the Bible, but 



BY B. F. LAWLER. 79 

cannot furnish us with a foundation for our hope, 
only as an index to something better adapted to our 
wants. 

We now come to what is said in regard to the' 
covenant of Redemption. This seems to be the last 
and yet is the first, and this brings to mind that 
God says : I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first 
and the last, the beginning and the end. This cov- 
nant is an everlasting covenant. Hear what Paul 
says to Timothy in the 2d letter, 1:8: Be not 
therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, 
nor of me, his prisoner : but be thou partaker of the 
afflictions of the Gospel according to the power of 
God who hath saved us and called us with a holy 
calling, not according to our own works, but accor- 
ding to His own purpose and grace, which was given 
in Christ Jesus before the world began. 

Believers in Christ are embraced in, but are not 
parties to this covenant. Overlapping and taking 
them within the sacred precincts of this ancient and 
blood-sealed covenant, believers can never perish. 
Jesus says, My Father which gave them to me is 
greater than all, and none is able to pluck them out 
of my Father's hand. (See John 10 : 29.) It is evi- 
dent that the conditions of this covenant have been 
complied with on the part of the Son, He being the 
second party therein ; for He tells us in Mat. 28 : 18, 
that all power is given unto me — ^to Jesus Himself. 



80 SERMONS, LETTERS AND LECTURES, 

Hence His authority to issue the great commission, 
Go teach all nations. This covenant entered into by 
the Father and the Son before the world was, is 
complete in the death and resurrection of Christ. 
" I gave, I gave my life for thee, 
What hast thou given for me ? '^ 

In Isaiah 42 : 6, we have a remarkable promise 
from God, as follows : "I, the Lord, (hath or) have 
called thee in righteousness and will hold thine hand 
and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of 
the people, for a light of the Gentiles. Jesus being 
given to us for a covenant, — every one who presents 
Jesus to the Father by faith, finds peace, for he is 
our peace. The chastisement of our peace was upon 
Him." Isa. 53:5. 

Again, Paul says to Titus, 1:2,^' In hope of eter- 
nal life which God that cannot lie promised before 
the world began, but hath in due time manifested 
His Word through preaching, which is committed 
unto me, according to the commandment of God our 
Saviour." And in Eph. 1:4 he writes : ^' Accord- 
ing as He hath chosen us in Him before the founda- 
tion of the world, that we should be holy and with- 
out blame before Him in love." 

1st Peter 1 : 18, 19. '' For as much as ye know 
that ye are not redeemed with corruptible things as 
silver and gold from your vain conversation, received 
from your fathers, but with the precious blood of 



BY B. F. LAWLER. 81 

Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without 
spot : who verily was foreordained before the founda- 
tion of the world." Dr. Watts says : 
" The gospel bears my spirit up ; 
A faithful and unchanging God 
Lays the foundation for my hope, 
In oaths and promises and blood/^ 
The covenant of grace does not depend upon man, 
as a party thereto, as we sometimes hear, but is of 
God and his dear Son, man being the object which 
Jesus came to seek and to save. Grrace is unmer- 
ited favor coming to us as a free gift. 

" O to grace how great a debtor 
Daily Pm constrained to be ; 
Let that grace, Lord, like a fetter 
Bind my wandering heart to thee.'^ 

In order that this covenant of grace be apprecia- 
ted, the claims of the law from Sinai should be 
faithfully and accurately impressed upon the people. 
Could this have been done, the errors of so many 
thousands concerning the law of circumcision and 
salvation through the Abrahamic covenant might 
have been obviated. 

There are many things which men ought to do, 
and there are many things which men ought not 
to do. Usually ministers do not make \h.^''^ shall 
nots " in the divine Law as prominent as they should 
be made. The Law is a schoolmaster to bring us to 
Christ. No man hastens to Jesus like the man who 



83 SERMONS, LETTERS AND LECTURES, 

has been slain by the Ten Commandments, — he flees 
to Jesus who possesses infinite righteousness and 
glory //^i" the keeping of the whole law, while on 
earth. Jesus is the great covenant-keeper for all 
who believe on Him. To Him all must appeal for 
righteousness, whether for slight infractions of the 
law or for great crimes. Nothing we can do, as. 
such, can ever supplement the righteousness of 
Jesus our Saviour. 

And now, unto Him that loved us and gave Him- 
self for us, and washed us in his own blood: unto 
Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. — 
Amen. 



BY B. F. LAWLER. 83 



SERMON. 



Funeral of Bro. Daniel W. Thomas, First Baptist 
Church, Salem, Neb., March 4, 1877. 



Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end 
be like his. Numbers 23 : 10, latter clause. 

These are the words of Balaam, the prophet, after 
Balak had vainly attempted to extort from him some- 
thing evil concerning Israel, taking him from point to 
point, from which to view the encampment of the 
Israelites building altars and offering sacrifices. At 
not a single point from which Balak had Balaam to 
prophesy, did he get an unfavorable word concern- 
ing Israel, but a blessing rather, until his chagrin 
and disappointment became so great that he did 
chide with Balaam for deceiving him. The inspi- 
ration from Grod upon the prophet, however recreant 
to his obligation he may have been disposed, gave 
no uncertain token concerning Grod's people. Truth 
hath her faithful exponents, however strong the at- 
tempt at perversion ; even attempts have been made 
to bribe the pulpit. As Balak tried from various 
points of view, with a new altar and a new sacrifice, 



84 SERMOTTS, LETTERS Al^D LECTURES, 

to obtain an unfavorable augural from Balaam, and 
failed, so every device will fail to obscure the proph- 
etic vision, if God be appealed to for the proph- 
ecy. Balaam, though himself not too good a man, 
went to Grod for his information, and each time he 
raised the prophetic lens to his moral vision, he 
was constrained to take up his parable and bless the 
host of Israel, and at last to say, " Let me die the 
death of the righteous, and let my last end be like 
his." 

From this, by analogy, may we infer that from no 
point of view, in any age of the world, can we obtain 
an unfavorable observation of the righteous. God 
testified in regard to Abel's offering, to the discom- 
fiture of Cain. He saw jN'oah righteous, and gave 
him instructions valuable to him and his house. 
The king of Egypt was constrained to acknowledge 
himself under obligations to take care that Abra- 
ham was not molested when in his country. Isaac, 
too, was pointed out to the Egyptian ruler on an 
occasion which showed that inspiration impresses 
men concerning God's people, even though the men 
themselves be not righteous. The captives in Bab- 
ylon were viewed by Cyrus in the light furnished of 
God himself, favorably, so that he proclaimed their 
return to Jerusalem. Pilate's wife sent word for 
Pilate to have nothing to do with that just man, 
Jesus Christ, for she had sufiered many things that 



BY B. F. LAWLER. 85 

day, in a dream, concerning him. King Agrippa 
was so impressed, under Paul's powerful defense, 
that he, like Balaam, would like to have such bene- 
fits as the righteous are entitled to hold, — he was 
almost persuaded to be a Christian. Their rock, 
says Moses, Deut. 32 : 31, is not as our rock, our 
enemies themselves being judges, for their cluster is 
the cluster of bitterness. No point, even in modern 
infidelity, has ultimately and to the end failed to 
yield, in some degree, that the death of the right- 
eous is preferable to that of the wicked. Sometime, 
somewhere, even wicked men break down and 
'' quail " at what is before them, virtually acknowl- 
edging the lot of the righteous to be better than 
their lot. Voltaire, we are told, said, " I take a leap 
into the dark." Religions, too, of worldly origin, 
when brought on the witness stand with their 
^' fruits," testify to the superiority of the religion of 
Christ. We also may learn that the wrath of man 
is to praise Grod, and the remainder he will restrain, 
^ot only the mad prophet, Balaam, should give true 
testimony to the welfare of the righteous, but even 
Pharaoh acknowledged, by entreating Moses to 
pray for him, that the righteous have favor with 
God. 

Following this analogy, we not only find good spo- 
ken concerning, or adouf, the righteous, but find 
many things favorable, said ^o the righteous. The 



86 SERMONS, LETTERS AND LECTURE^, 

great and precious promises made of God unto his 
people which the Apostle tells us of, 2d Peter 1 : 4, 
have had a great deal to do with God's people ; even 
Moses had reference to the recompense of the re- 
ward. Could we but sum up the good things said 
to God's people, and have them before us, we would 
not wonder why they cannot be '' bought off" from 
His service. Balaam said good things about God's 
people, but God Himself says good things to His 
people. The apostle Paul is said to have written to 
Hebrews, and in the 13 : 5 he reminds them of the 
Promise which says, I will never leave thee nor for- 
sake thee. In Mat. 9 : 2, we read that the Saviour 
says to one. Thy sins which are many are all for- 
given thee. In Job we read. He shall deliver thee 
in six troubles, yea in seven, there shall no evil 
touch thee. And again, we hear one of the proph- 
ets saying, Unto you that fear my name shall the 
sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings 
(beams.) 

But, in a third place, we notice that a voice within 
the righteous speaks such words and prompts them 
to such deeds that it is impossible to hide their light. 
Holy sentiment has ever been within God's people. 
Paul and Silas sang praises to God with their feet 
made fast in the stocks, in the inner prison, even at 
the midnight hour. Prodigious efforts have been 
made to obscure the light of the beautiful star of 



BY B. F. LAWLER. 87 

hope, but in vain. Balak tried to have the Israel- 
ites cursed by the prophet, — he wished to see them 
come to naught. Balaks of a more modern date 
have tried to hush the voice of the righteous, and 
while thousands of voices have been stifled in the 
flames of persecutions, yet others, multiplied as none 
but God can multiply, would take up the loud refrain 
of praise to Grod until their enemies have been made 
to tremble before Grod. The voice of God in His 
people was prophesied of long ago. How could 
Isaiah have known twenty-five hundred years ago 
how I should feel to-day ? In the twelfth chapter 
he says. In that day thou shalt say, Lord, I will 
praise thee, though thou wast angry with me, thine 
anger is turned away, and Thou dost comfort me. 
How came these very sentiments in my heart ? 
Who put them there ? I will put my laws in their 
hearts (inward parts) saith God and in their minds 
will I write them. Again, the Apostle says, 
wretched man that I am ! Who shall deliver me 
from the body of this death ? The Spirit of Jesus 
prompts his people in whatever situation they may 
be placed, and ever will be with them alway even 
unto the end of the world. Not the dungeon, nor 
the cave, nor the rack, nor stake, nor furnace, could 
stifle, efiectually, the life that we have in Christ 
Jesus our Lord. In poverty or riches, in sickness 
or health, the death of the righteous is to be prefer- 



88 SEEMOKS, LETTERS AND LECTURES, 

red to any other death. The righteous hath hope in 
his death. Job, in the ashes, covered with sores, 
in poverty and reproached by her who should stay 
him in his trouble, still maintains his integrity. 
Lady Huntington, surrounded by her wealth, is yet 
moved by this same spirit to deeds of righteousness, 
sending a blessing to thousands of souls. See her 
as she sits to hear salvation from the lips of Abra- 
ham Booth. How her soul melts in tender love for 
souls who so much need this same grace. 

INTo, my friends, the decision is ever in favor of 
the righteous. This, our beloved brother, giving 
his heart to the Saviour in his very youth and hav- 
ing by his life, his deep piety, his love for the 
church, his efforts to aid your unworthy speaker to 
come to Nebraska — his every letter during his ab- 
sence, all evince the fact that his heart was here. 
The beautiful pine tree he sent you last Christmas, 
which stood here on this platform, upon which so 
many beautiful presents were placed — all this showed 
his love for the Sunday School, and he, though he 
has gone away, kindled a fire high up on the cliff, 
as it were, which will be the means of guiding 
hundreds of wanderers to the haven of peace. God 
will see to it that his works shall follow him. May 
we not all appropriate the language of the text and 
say, Let me die the death of the righteous, — the 
death of this beloved brother? With not a single blot 



By b. f. lawler. 89 

on his fair name, he finished his record and it can 
never be reversed. He fought a good fight, he kept 
the faith, he finished his course, — a crown of right- 
eousness is his. May not all wish to die as he has 
died ? My dear brother, (to the father of the de- 
ceased) you spoke so tenderly this morning about 
the seventh one for sacrifice. My prayer is that God 
will help you to bear this sad bereavement. Your 
son has lived a noble life and has died an honorable 
death, and will always reflect back honor upon your 
family. May you have that spirit that moved God 
to give up his only Son, — and he too died from 
home, — on the cross. Cannot you submit, my 
brother ? I know how the father's heart clings to 
the first-born, but God gave up His Son, His only 
Son. Sister Thomas, (to the mother) the mother of 
Jesus gave up her first born, and she stood hard by 
the cross and was not permitted to put forth her 
hand to her son's relief, even when he asked for water 
and they gave him vinegar. JN'o soft pillow for his 
head; but the hard wood only — and you are no better 
than Mary. May God sustain you under this tre- 
mendous shock ! Children, dear children, what shall 
I say to you ? I must read to you an extract from 
one of his letters which I hold in my hand. He 
says : " You are now old enough to give your hearts 
to the Saviour. We are seven in all." One is ab- 
sent, but yet '' ye are seven." The little cottage 



90 SERMONS, LETTERS AKD LECTURES, 

girl could not be persuaded there were only five 
because two were in the church-yard laid. The little 
maid would have her will and said, master, we 
are seven. 

0, at the time of prayer you will not wait then 
for his coming feet ; you will miss him there ; but 
he wdll wait your coming to the home of the blest. 
Still further he says in this letter, " Pa and Ma will 
be taken from us after awhile. Let us all secure a 
heavenly Father. He will never leave us." Children, 
will you not this day resolve in your hearts to try 
and meet him in heaven. To the Sunday School I 
may well say, you have lost a friend. Think of his 
sending you a beautiful " Christmas tree " all the 
way from Wisconsin ! May we all be prepared to 
meet him. To the young men who have so tenderly 
borne the body of this young departed friend, may 
we not hope that you too will give your hearts to 
the Saviour, and your lives to the church ? So few 
young men are now dedicating themselves to God's 
service ; our prayer is that God may incline your 
hearts to Himself. To all the people we may say, 
you have lost a friend and a noble citizen. His life 
and death have made a deep impression upon this 
people, and that too in the right direction. May 
our last end be like his ! May we all be saved for 
Jesus' sake. Amen, 



BY B. F. LAWLIEK. 91 



LETTER TO THE " CENTRAL BAPTIST." 



Salem, Nebraska, August 7tli, 1877. 

Deae '' Central : " — As the annual gathering of 
Tebo Association is near at hand, my heart becomes 
tender, not only for my brethren and sisters there, 
but for " many dear to me " in Missouri, and by 
your permission I take this method of speaking a 
word to them and the many readers of the " Cen- 
tral." 

Time is rolling on and we are nearer heaven than 
we have ever been before. The world is fading^ 
and the hues of eternal joys are deepening. The 
trials and afflictions of this life, instead of driving 
\MS>/rom are driving us to our heavenly Father. 

" Blest be the cloud and kind the storm, 
That drives us nearer home.^^ 

I am thankful to God that I am able to claim 
many precious promises, once, to me, without mean- 
ing and without adaptation. Jesus is very precious 
indeed, and in the extremities to which we are 
driven, how often do the words of good Henry Mar- 
tyn come to us : " 0, my gracious God ! What could 
we do were it not for thee." 



92 SERMOKS, LETTERS AND LECTURES, 

I am happy to let you know that I have nothing 
to do outside of preaching the Word and performing 
pastoral work, and this allows me all the time in 
my study that I need, a thing for which I besought 
the Lord — salary being enough for my support. I 
am forming new acquaintances, and find brethren 
and sisters here in iNTebraska whom I love tenderly, 
but as the time comes on for the '' gathering of the 
tribes " in the dear old home, my heart beats warmly, 
and ''I would God I could be there" ''just for a day." 
But the time is coming fast when we will all meet 
in the great gathering in heaven. Many are looking 
back to earthly friends and homes more than to 
those gone on before. Our hearts are longing for 
the sweet fields of rest, and our friends will know 
our happy welcome on the evergreen shore. The 
good old Scotch song says : 

" We have His good word of promise 
And He will surely come again.'^ 

Yes, beloved, Jesus will come and take us to Him- 
self. We shall see Him and be like Him. He will 
bring us to his own home, not to be tempted and 
tried by Satan any more. He knows our grief ; He 
knows our sorrows. N^o one knows, but Jesus, our 
conflicts day by day. No one like Jesus hears when 
we pray. May God bless you every one, is the prayer 
of your brother, 

B. F. Lawler. 



BY B. F. LAWLEK. 93 



SERMOK 



Funeral of Mrs. Dorrington, Preached in Falls 
City, July 2d, 1879. 



Prepare to meet thy God. — Amos, 4 : 12. 

Sister Dorrington was born in England in 1805, 
lived there and married there, making an imper- 
ishable impression upon those about her. She 
removed thence to Xew York, where she again im- 
pressed her moral worth upon the community, many 
of whom are ready to-day to testify, if called upon, 
to her excellent qualities as a citizen, a wife, a mother, 
a friend. In regard to her life in this city it were 
well that we let this large audience pronounce the 
eulogium for us. She chose the text herself. 

" She asked not a stone to be sculptured in verse, 
She asked not that fame should her merits re- 
hearse,'' 

But she repeated, when so near the river's brink : 
'^ Prepare to meet thy God." 

1st. We shall notice the text as it regards the 
physical aspects of Grod's dealings with man. 



94 SERMONS, LETTERS AND LECTURES, 

2d. As it regards the metaphysical, or as it should 
exist in the mind. 

3d. In its didactic or doctrinal phase. 

1st. The text has direct reference to God's deal- 
ings with Israel in temporal calamities. He had 
said that he would send upon them the pestilence, 
the drouth when it should be yet three months to 
harvest, that he would take away their young men, 
that he would kill their horses, and yet they 
had not returned unto the Lord. JNTow, therefore 
prepare to meet your God, 0, Israel. But what 
has the text to do with us? Much, every way. 
Many of you remember that it seemed that the coun- 
try would be depopulated when the drouth and the 
devourer laid waste the land. How many of you 
now would be prepared, should there be no rain for 
full twelve weeks, to harvest ? Nine out of every 
ten to-day would be wholly unprepared for such an 
event. And then, this is not the only family in this, 
city, that is to be stricken with mourning. Our 
brother is not the only one that is to lose the column 
which has supported him through the dark and deep 
trials of life. You are not the only children who 
are to weep for a mother dear, now so cold and still. 
When I received the letter bringing the sad intelli- 
gence of her death, written by her own son, sending 
text and all, I saw there tokens of a son's affections. 
No wail as in despair, but a deep tone of feeling, the 



BY B. F. LAWLER. 95 

deposit of a pure mother's love in his manly heart, 
reciprocated now with an increased intensity, as 
having been quickened by the occasion. Boys, (I 
may call you boys, as being younger than myself), 
I am thankful that you ever had such a mother. 
But let us again return to the text. Are we j)repared 
to pass through the suiferings of years and years, 
which sister Dorrington passed through, without a 
murmur escaping our lips? Are w^e prepared to 
give Grod praise in such great trials as hers, and 
magnify the name of God in it all ? Some of you 
are young, and your prospects are all beaming. 
God says, in connection with our text, that he mak- 
eth the morning darkness ; that is, the fairest pros- 
pect he can suddenly blight, turning the very morn- 
ing of your life, ere it touches noon, into utter dark- 
ness. JN'one are exempt from disappointment. Are 
we prepared ? 

2d. Let us also notice the text in a metaphysical 
sense. There is moral infraction as well as physical. 
There is moral paralysis, moral lameness. Our very 
best men have their faults. Sister Dorrington has 
been a member of the Baptist Church for thirty 
years — had in her very youth discovered her need 
of a Saviour. All the way from her glittering parlor 
to the hovel, where she fed the hungry with her own 
hands, she had experience and observation; had 
tried it all ; and yet, notwithstanding she loved her 



96 SEEMOlSrS, LETTERS AND LECTURES, 

husband, loved her children, loved her people and 
loved her country, — all, all these she found, but her 
moral being lacked a moral head. She had no love for 
God. This she sought — this she obtained, and, finding 
peace with God, felt prepared to meet him. She found 
human attributes complete within themslves, but the 
moral image of its author was wanting. This is neces- 
sary in order to be happy in heaven. This she craved 
for her people, this she desired for all. Hence her 
exhortation, " Prepare to meet God." In a conver- 
sation with her when she was still as well as she had 
been for years, she told me that she heard Rowland 
Hill preach in England. She gave his text: ''Lord, 
now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, accord- 
ing to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salva- 
tion." She gave a glowing description of the sermon, 
including many things the preacher said ; and, as she 
waved her thin hand, imitating the great preacher, 
her soul seemed to kindle almost into a flame as if 
she would break away from her clay prison that she 
might be with God. What a bright and grand spirit 
was in that frail body ! We believe she is in heaven 
to-day. 

David was poet, warrior and king, — tried all the 
pleasures of the palace, supped the world's cup of joy, 
yet he says : " Create in me a clean heart, God ; 
and renew a right spirit within me." When we look 
into our hospitals, jails, penitentiaries and asylums, 



BY B. F. LAWLEK. 97 

and see all the wretchedness and misery there, we get 
but a faint analogy of the moral condition of man ; — 
moral leprosy, moral paralysis, blindness, and de- 
crepitude prevail. Sister Dorrington, realizing this 
to be the forlorn condition of sinful souls, sends back 
word, as it were, from the grave's mouth : Prepare 
to meet your God ! that you niciy not be covered over 
with moral ulcers ; that you may be prepared for hap- 
piness in heaven. This is an important matter. This 
strikes me with great force. She having made this 
important discovery, craves that others, too, have 
the benefit of it. 

3d. We come now to notice the didactic or doc- 
trinal phase of the text. There is but one physician 
whose skill can reach the maladies of the soul. There 
is but one remedy, the blood of that great physician. 
Jesus is the only name given among men whereby 
we can be saved. We have nothino; to offer that 
will avail but Jesus. JN'othino; will satisfv the law 
but the perfect obedience of Jesus Christ imputed 
unto us. This is offered freely. Ho, every one. Ho ! 
every one that thirsteth! come ye to the waters. 
Seek the Lord while he may be found ; call upon him 
while he is near. Prepare to meet Grod, so that 
^' w^hen your time comes to join the innumerable 
caravan that moves to the realms of shade," you may 
be ready, prepared to meet God in peace. To these 
ministers I would say, you have suffered loss in the 



98 SERMONS, LETTERS AND LECTURES, 

death of our sister. Your work is very great in this 
city, and it seems that we need all the moral atmos- 
phere possible. The community has lost a most 
valued mother and citizen. In these days of human 
treachery, we stand greatly in need of such noble 
mothers as she w^as. Dear children, what shall I 
say to you ? Your loss is irreparable. I know you 
loved your mother. I love a boy who loves his 
mother. As you traverse life's journey, dark days 
will come and you may feel forsaken. You can look 
back to one bright spot, — one oasis in the desert of 
life ; you know your mother loved you. When 
she used to fling her arms around your neck 
and weep over you in such tenderness, you felt to 
say to her, do not be anxious for me, mother, but 
now you would not part with the memory of those 
tears for anything. Her beautiful life, like an up- 
lifted, beautiful shaft, stands among the broken col- 
umns of earth, with the beautiful words engraved upon 
it, " Prepare to meet thy God." When you return 
to your sorrowful home, you will not find your mother 
there. She, so much like a beautiful flower drinking 
in the morning dew and exhaling its fragrance on all 
around, is not there. Loving arms are holding you 
here, and sanctified arms reach out for you in heaven. 
She will be waiting and watching for you. What 
shall we say to the bereaved husband and father, 
left so lonely and so sad ? In the language of one 



BY B. F. LAWLER. 99 

who has gone before us in the pulpit, " How can we 
comfort him whom God has not comforted." May 
God sustain you in this your severe trial. I have 
supped at this bitter cup before you. I know how 
bitter it is, — none know but those who taste it. Life 
will seem darker now, but your children will comfort 
you in your loneliness ; God will be your friend. I 
shall love you all more, as I shall know more of 
you, for her sake and your own. May God bless and 
save us all. Amen. 



100 SERMONS, LETTERS AND LECTURES, 



TO THE '' CENTRAL BAPTIST." 

Salem, Neb., June 6, 1879, 

Dear '' Central": — My eves overflow with tears 
as I read the reports from the convention at Atlanta. 
The speeches, the addresses of returned mission- 
aries, the happy greetings — these all passing before 
my mind as I read, I feel to say : '' Would God I had 
been there." I weep because I could not go, for al- 
though I am in this new, far-off Nebraska land, yet 
I feel very near to you all in my spirit. I feel like 
a thread " shuttled off " by a Divine hand, into this 
section, I believe, to bind us together the better, for 
already my feelings are taking deep root in the in- 
terest of God's dear children here. I am the recip- 
ient of attentions which would do honor to the great, 
and this, too, knowing that I am w^hat they call a 
" Southerner." The love of the Lord is doing a 
great thing for us in that direction. And yet, 

"We shall know each other better 
When the mists have cleared away.^^ 

I wish that I could have been in that convention. 
I wish that I could see Dr. Boyce, who has prayed 
and wept and given so much heart and money treas- 



BY B. F. LAWLER. 101 

ure for the education of ministers of the gospel, and 
to shake hands with Dr. Broadus^ whose book on 
preaching is such a treasure. God bless them ! If 
I had money it would go like theirs has gone. My 
heart is so tender, and my eyes so full of tears I 
can scarcely write these lines. I think now of so 
many in our loved Missouri that I cannot men- 
tion all. I love them all. I wish my brethren to 
know that I feel that God is with me, and though I 
cannot see through the "problem," I can seethe 
hand that is solving it, and that He knows the spot 
where I shall '' finish my course." 

I am happ3' to say that work here has better pros- 
pect than heretofore. The Central has been praised 
enough for its new dress and other excellencies, and 
by better pens than mine. I am its friend. I wish 
I could shake hands with a few thousands of you and 
join in your prayers and songs. I hope you will not 
forget your brother in Nebraska. And now farewell 
for this time. 

B. F. Lawler. 



102 SERMONS, LETTERS AND LECTURES. 



SERMOIN'. 



Preached at Prairie Union Baptist Church, Feb, 
25, 1877, before administering the ordi- 
nance of baptism. 



But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, 
but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine 
which was delivered you. — Romans 6 : 17. 

The Apostle does not mean that he is thankful 
that the Romans had been sinners, but that though 
they had served sin, they were then the servants of 
Christ, and had obeyed the form of doctrine to which 
they were delivered. To illustrate : If a Servian 
were to renounce his allegiance to his country and 
join the Turks, upon touching the lines of the latter 
he would make a full surrender and would be deliv- 
ered to the authorities who would subject him to 
whatever forms they had adopted as suitable to ex- 
press his change from a former to the latter allegi- 
ance. He is delivered to certain forms^ conforming 
to which he symbolizes the revolution or change 
which had taken place in his mind. 

Again, who of you, in building a house, has not 
first the ideal building in the mind, all complete, 



BY B. F. LAWLER. 103 

before it takes form to be seen by the natural 
eye? One man looking at his excellent residence, said : 
'' That house was all, in every particular, in my mind 
before I commenced to build." Is not this ordinar. 
ily the case ? Your school children know something 
of raising a ratio to a power whose exponent is one less 
than the number of terms. Here you learn there is a 
difference between a powxr and an exponent of that 
power. 

The Apostle is speaking of a doctrine ; the text 
and context show that a doctrine is the burthen which 
is brought to our minds to-day, the form of w^hich 
the Apostle is thankful the Romans had obeyed 
from the heart. By noticing a few verses in this 
chapter you will learn that death to sin, and life to 
holiness is the doctrine, and a great doctrine, too. 
This doctrine must be found embodied in the heart 
of every one before heaven can become his or her 
home ; — ye must be born again. The love of sin 
must die in the soul ere the rose of Sharon be planted 
there. A sinner must lose his identity in the do- 
minion of sin and Satan before he can be the recipi- 
ent of life in Christ the Lord. The feet of Caesar 
could not touch the opposite shore of the Rubicon 
w^hile they were firmly planted on his own shore. 
The children of Israel could never enter Canaan 
while they remained in Egypt. Xo one can be a 
citizen, enjoying all the privileges of one country 
while he holds all the immunities of another. 



104 SERMONS, LETTERS AND LECTURES. 

The gospel requires that the moral man be 
stretched upon the cross of repentance until his love 
for sin ebbs entirely away (6th verse) : " Knowing 
this that our old man is crucified with Him." JNTow 
why this crucifixion ? The Apostle tells us '' that 
the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth 
we should not serve sin." There is a destruction of 
identity morally^ which is grievous to nature ; the 
carnal mind is not subject to the law of God, neither, 
indeed, can be. This moral death is demanded 
by the very terms of God's amnesty proclamation. I 
will take away your stony hearts out of your flesh, 
and will give you hearts of flesh. JS'ot that good 
men and women wall never do w^^ong, but that they 
will not willingly disobey. There is vast difference 
between a ship's being driven away in a storm and 
setting sail in fair weather and sailing away. Good 
men may be borne away from duty by strong waves 
of temptation, but will return again. As soon as 
death to sin has done its work life begins. When 
the sinner has been lost sight of on the dark sea of 
sin, letting go every vestige of its claims, he is recog- 
nized in the spiritual world as a son, and because he 
is a son, God sends the Spirit of His Son into his 
heart, crying, Abba Father. (See Gal. 4:6). 

In this connection we may remark concerning the 
benefits arising from this new relation. You will 
not suflPer for sin. One of the reasons why you, who 



BY B. F, LAWLER. 105 

have passed from death unto life, will not suffer for 
sin is that you are not to be found in the old domin- 
ion. You have fled for refuge to lay hold on the 
promises in the gosj)el. You are not l/zere, and no 
matter how many grave charges justice may bring 
against you, his claims will all be returned and 
charged against the Lord Jesus Christ, who suffered 
in our stead. (See Isaiah 53 : 5). 0, Thou lovely Son 
of God ! Thou that dost give us Thy righteousness 
and takest our sins upon Thyself ! This is the glo- 
rious gospel (or good news) of Jesus Christ. This is 
great salvation, and we find here great inducement 
to serve the Lord. These are benefits growing out 
of the sufferings of Jesus on the cross. Sinner, will 
you consider these great advantages ? Will you not 
repent of sin that you may be made alive unto Grod ? 
The doctrine of repentance and faith, or death to 
sin and life to holiness, can not be too prominently 
held before the people. This is what the Apostle 
means when he says so much about glorying in the 
cross of Christ. We shall never regret having died 
to the love of sin and being made alive to Christ. 
Some one has written some forlorn lines which Satan 
may well appropriate : 

" How many now are dead to me 
Who live to others yet ! " 

Crucified unto the world, and the world crucified 
unto me. 



106 SERMOlSrS, LETTERS AISTD LECTUEES. 

The Apostle speaks about their having obeyed 
the form of doctrine. In this same chapter he says : 
'' Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized in- 
to Jesus Christ were baptized into his death ?" ''That 
like as Christ rose from the dead by the glory of the 
Father, even so we^ also, should walk in newness of 
life." Still he says : " Therefore, (for this reason) 
we are buried with him by bai3tism into death." 
Why are we buried? Because of death. What 
death? Death to sin. Had you asked the men 
who were digging the grave yonder in the cemetery 
yesterday if any one was dead you would have ex- 
posed yourself to ridicule. But to ask who is dead, 
is, when men are digging a grave, very reasonable 
and natural. That is an exponent of mortality. 
The divine economy chose baptism, burial in water, 
as the form by which to express the moral death or 
crucifixion of the '' old man," as the Apostle terms 
it. The burial to represent the death and the rais- 
ing up out of the \\atery grave to represent the Ife 
in a risen Saviour imparted to us, both of these hav- 
ing taken place in repentance and faith before bap- 
tism. The form may be possessed without the 
power. I think I have found some in the Baptist 
Church who had the form but lacked the power. 
The Apostle found some in his day. — (See 2 Timothy 
*3:5). I would call the attention of the candi- 
dates for baptism to the fact that this is the old, bat- 



BY B. F. LAWLER. 107 

tle-scarred army, having " held the banner in the 
teeth of the storm " ever since John the Baptist was 
beheaded, that night when there was a dance at Her- 
od's house. You are now to be united with a peo- 
ple who have maintained this form^ this burial in 
water and resurrection therefrom, with its doctrines, 
at a cost of millions of lives, besides immense, un- 
told treasure, money, property, homes, friends, com- 
forts, etc., even baptizing in the stillness of the night 
for fear of the king, but thanks be to God we are not 
afraid of any '' posse " here to-day to arrest us for 
baptizing after this ancient form. You will not 
probably be called upon for your life or property be- 
cause you are a Baptist, but I wish you to know that 
that ancient and honorable sect have maintained 
this ordinance in its original place, and that we, 
having received it from hands dripping with blood 
in its defense, from hands singed in flames, from 
those whose voices were stilled in the smoke and 
flame of persecution, — having received these sacred 
things which have cost so enormously, we do not 
propose to sell our birthright as Esau did. When 
you go down into the water to obey \kn.^form of doc- 
trine to which the gospel has delivered you, or im- 
posed upon you, or required of you, you do it with 
the distinct understanding that you are dead to sin 
and alive to holiness now, and that we do not bap- 
tise you with any view but this. It is the exponent 



108 SERMOl^S, LETTERS AND LECTURES. 

of the powe7\ — it is not the power itself. The Saviour 
says John indeed did baptize and preach the bap- 
tism of repentance. See, there is the idea, baptism 
of repentance, baptism growing out of repentance. 
This brings us to notice the phrase, '' from the 
heart," — obedience from the heart. Peter means 
just this when he speaks of the answer of a good 
conscience. The conscience must be good, and then 
it makes a demand^ that is for baptism. Says Peter, 
not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the 
answer of a good conscience. This comes from the 
heart. The moral man (old man) has died and the 
new man has risen ; and now this doctrine being in 
the heart, being the experience of the converted per- 
son, baptism or burial is called for as the exponent, 
not the doctrine itself, but the exponent of the doc- 
trine. This obedience, then, is from the heart. We 
are made Christians first in the heart, and then the 
form is submitted to, — the habiliments are put on. 
For as many as have been baptized into Christ have 
put on Christ. For if we have been planted together 
in the likeness of his death, likeness — not itself, but 
the likeness of it, we shall also be in the likeness of 
his resurrection, knowing this, that our old man 
is crucified with his deeds, (see Romans 6: 5,- 6). I 
asked a man not long since what made him wish to 
be baptized. The time was when he had no such 
desire. It must have been the result of death to 



BY B. F. LAWLER. 109 

sin, and life in Jesus Christ, the Spirit interpreting 
its own demand. There is a consolation to be de- 
rived from the fact that the heart desires to obey, 
because Jesus says, If ye love me ye Avill keep my 
commandments. This paraphrased, If it is your 
will, your desi7'e to keep his commandments, it is 
evidence you love him. Some may be deceived, but 
hypocrites are not deceived ; they know what they 
are doing. They put on habiliments that they know 
they ought not have upon them. A sincere desire, 
however, to please God, to obey from the heart, is 
comforting evidence that a work of grace has taken 
place in your hearts. May God bless you every one 
with every needed grace, and strengthen you. May 
he bless these additions to the church, and the church 
be a blessing to her additions, and may it please God 
to add many more such as shall be saved. Amen. 



110 SERMONS, LETTERS AND LECTURES, 



SERMON. 



Preached in Prairie Union Baptist Church, 2nd 

Sabbath in December, 1877, Being the 

Time of Communion. 



Then Jesus said unto them : Yerily, verily, I say unto you, 
except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink of 
his blood, ye have no life in you. — John 6 : 53. 

The account of the Lord's Supper, as given in the 
twenty-second chapter of Luke, is blended in part 
with the feast of unleavened bread which is called 
the Passover. When this was drawing nigh, 
Judas, one of the twelve, went his wav and com- 
muned with the chief priests and captains, how he 
might betray him unto them ; and they covenanted 
to give him money. So jou see the betrayal of our 
Lord was a cool, calculating, money-making affair. 
He, (Judas) however, returned in due time, (see 
verse 14) and they sat down to the passover supper. 
Jesus had desired to eat that passover with his dis- 
ciples before he suffered. (Verse 15.) 

Here it truly seems that Judas partook of the bread 
and wine. To note, however, the 20th verse — Like- 



BY B. F. LAWLEK. Ill 

wise also the cup after supper — shows that Luke's re- 
capitulation leaves room to believe that Judas was 
not present when the wine was introduced. The 
lamb to be roast and eaten (and not a bone to be 
broken) in connection with which the ''sop" was 
used, was typical of Jesus, the Lamb of Grod. Jesus 
is the antityj)e. He desired to be present at that 
supper before he suffered ; and did leave the symbol 
of his broken body and shed blood, instead of the 
roast lamb, etc., as much as to say : I am that Lamb. 
I come to fulfill its import, and as I am soon to shed 
my blood, I will leave its symbol wine in connection 
with the unleavened bread. There and then did 
Jesus administer the Lord's Supper for the first time, 
in that upper room, and no public invitation given, 
not even ''his mother Mary," nor the hundreds of 
others whose names are written in the book of life, 
but those only whom he had called out — the ecclesia. 
If it is absolutely certain that the "sop " was taken 
in connection with the roast lamb (passover), which 
can not be otherwise, as we do not have it now, nor 
have we had any account of it since then, it is also 
absolutely certain that Judas did not '^ take the 
wine." In the thirteenth chapter of John and thir- 
tieth verse, we read that when Judas had received 
the sop, he went immediately out, and it was night. 
This being connected with the '' passover " concluded 
Judas' participation in the supper, after which is 



112 SERMOlSrS, LETTERS AND LECTURES, 

shown again by Luke 22 : 28, 29 : '' Ye are they 
which have continued with me in my temptations, 
and I appoint unto you a kingdom as my Father 
hath appointed unto me." Judas was certainly ab- 
sent from him a part of the time (and at that time) 
in his diabolical work of betraying his Master. It 
would be wonderful satire to include him as having 
continued with Jesus in his temptation, and more so 
for Jesus to appoint him unto a kingdom, as his 
Father had appointed him. All the circumstances 
taken together relieve us of the monstrous idea that 
Jesus would administer to Judas the symbol of his 
blood, purporting that Judas had been cleansed from 
all sin by it, when Satan had entered into him to be- 
tray that very blood, selling the Lord for thirty pieces 
of silver. Judas, although one of ^' the twelve," was 
not prepared to properly observe this sacred thing. 
Paul had doubts concerning some of the Corinthian 
brethren when he said : " Let a man examine him- 
self." This was not said io\hQ public so that any one 
might conclude favorably in regard to personal quali- 
fications, literally putting the ordinance in the hands 
of the people, but this language was given to the Cor- 
inthian Church, some of whom Paul doubted concern- 
ing qualification, and it would be well if more churches 
had such instructions to-day. The '' covenant " meet- 
ing before communion should receive more attention 
than it ordinarily does, and with preparation in a 
solemn sense should we " approach the board." 



BY B. F. LAWLER. 113 

" Except ye eat the flesh, and drink the blood of 
the Son of man, ye have no life in you." In the 
second place we notice this language as being sym- 
bolical. The Romanists, taking this in a literal 
sense, and believing in trans ubstantiation, admin- 
ister the bread and wine to the sick, perhaps, in some 
eases to the dying, hoping that if the bread and wine 
be taken into the natural stomach, they, the recip- 
ients, may have everlasting life. This is a great 
mistake in logic and in theology. In logic, because 
even in physics people do not eat to bring them to life^ 
but they eat because they are alive. No Baptist 
minister understandingly would administer the com- 
munion to a single individual, sick or well, unless a 
church make an appointment at a private house and 
vote or agree to take the bread and wine in remem- 
brance of the Lord. In such a case as this an in- 
valid might take the Lord's Supper, being a mem- 
ber in good standing. JN'ot otherwise, for we do not 
believe that it gives life. 

But there is a sense in which every believer does 
eat the flesh, and drink the blood of the Lord. He 
gave his life to every one that believeth, and the be- 
liever, byfaith^ appropriates Jesus mentally ; and this 
is not done until they are quickened, made alive, and 
the eating is done in consequence of living ; — live 
people eat, — it is the work of the Spirit to quicken. 
Now let us paraphrase the text a little, and see if 



114 SEEMOKS, LETTERS AISTD LECTURES. 



this is not true. Ye have no life in you, except ye 
eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood ; 
that is, you are not alive unless you eat, because life 
has to be sustained directly or indirectly, and spiritual 
life demands spiritual food and drink. This Jesus is ; 
he is our life or means of sustentation. In order, 
therefore, to keep our minds on him as the source of 
spiritual nutriment, he says : ^' Do this in remem- 
brance of me." Therefore the administrator of this 
ordinance ought to be very careful to whom he gives 
these sacred things, and those who take the bread 
and wine ought to know that they thus " clothe a 
fact," OT express that which has taken place ; that is, 
when they eat the bread and sup the wine, they say, 
by their acts, that they have eaten heavenly food, 
and have drunk of the heavenly drink ; or, in other 
words, the bread and wine are an outward symbol or 
language of an ^' inner " life, and woe be to him who 
puts out a sign of what he has not. We do not be- 
lieve our Lord would have Judas say he is doing what 
he plainly was not doing ; he would not have Judas 
symbolize that, that had no existence ; would not have 
him say outwardly what was not true inwardly. ^'As 
oft" as this is repeated it speaks the same thing ; it 
shows forth his death till he come, refers us continu- 
ally to the sustentation of our spiritual being — born 
from above it is altogether reasonable that our food 
should come from our native country. Paul says we 



BY B. F. LAWLER. 115 

have our citizenship in heaven, (conversation see 
Phil. 3 : 20) for, in addition to its being " palatable," 
it is altogether adapted to our spiritual wants. '' 
taste," says the Psalmist, '' and see that the Lord is 
good," — " sweeter also than honey and the honey- 
comb." We feel confident that, having tasted of the 
goodness of God and the powers of the world to 
come, that we discern the Lord's body in these sym- 
bols, and do no misapply them, though we feel very 
unworthy to '^ handle them." Yea, and sometimes 
our faith is weak and we tremble under the respon- 
sible position we are called upon to take. Many 
timid believers fear to advance and take their places 
among the members upon communing seasons ; but 
do you know in whom you have believed ? Are you 
not certain that you hunger and thirst after righteous- 
ness ? Such shall be filled. Do you not mourn over 
a wasted life, including ''misgivings," follies? Ye 
shall be comforted. Whom have you in heaven or 
earth that you desire more than you desire God ? 
As the hart panteth for the water brooks, so panteth 
my soul for thee, God. Let us draw near then, 
having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience 
and our bodies washed with pure water. 

" Our sins and griefs on him were laid — 
He meekly bore the mighty load ; 
Our ransom price he fully paid 
In groans and tears, and sweat and blood," 



116 SEKMOI^S, LETTEKS AISTD LECTUKES, 

Eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son 
of man is a '' spiritual process." God is a spirit and 
seeketh such to worship him as worship him in spirit 
and in truth. Our spiritual strength is to be renewed 
by waiting on the Lord. They that wait on the Lord 
shall renew their strength. '^ I am the living bread 
which came down from heaven ; if any man eat of this 
bread, he shall live forever. The bread that I will give 
is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." 
Then, in commemorating the Lord's death, we show 
forth his death as the means of our Izfe^ that we con- 
tinually live by him. As he came forth from the 
Father and lives by the Father, so we should " re- 
peatedly " acknowledge him to be our life, by show- 
ing forth his death. 

In the third place, we notice that in ^' clothing the 
fact " of our union with Christ, and that he is our 
life — that by him we live— it is also necessary for 
Vi!^ previously to clothe another idea or fact; that is, 
our death to sin, and our being made alive to Grod. 
If we partake of the wine to show that our life is 
one with him, it is necessary to show our death with 
him. '' Know ye not that so many of us as were 
baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his 
death ? Therefore we are buried with him by bap- 
tism into death ; that like (notice the like) as Christ 
was raised up from the dead by the glory of the 
Father, even so we also should walk in newness of 



BY B. F. LAWLER. 117 

life." As you profess that your life touches the life 
of Jesus, and draws virtue out of him, (the woman 
touched but the hem of his garment, and he per- 
ceived that virtue had gone out of him,) so it is ab- 
solutely obligatory upon you first that your death 
touch his. This you are to show by being buried in 
baptism. This stands first in order, and has been 
with Baptists, (after repentance), ever since Peter 
said: ^'Repent and be baptized." These are the 
two pillars^ the "• Boas and Jachin," in the spiritual 
temple of our Lord and Master ; these give strength 
and establishment to Christ's Church now^ and have 
been held in their relative positions ever at a fearful 
cost of human life, in prisons, in caves, in dens, in 
mountain snows, in flames at the stake, on the rack, 
and under the whip ; — from Paul, the apostle, to 
Obadiah Holmes, of America, a century ago. Cer- 
tainly^ and by the grace of Grod, we will maintain this 
order to the end of life. Lycurgus gave laws which 
bound his people a few hundred years. Bonaparte's 
authority was very great, but ceased with his im- 
prisonment or death ; but Jesus commanded his peo- 
ple to '^ do " these things in remembrance of him 
eighteen hundred years ago, and they are " doing " 
them yet^ and will^^ for he is with them alway, even 
unto the end of the world. The first thing you are 
called upon to do is that that comes next to your 
death to sin, and that is, be buried in baptism ; this, 



118 SERMONS, LETTERS AND LECTURES 



of course, after you died to sin and were made alive 
to God. N^ot that you are to go down into the water a 
dead man and come up out of the water a live man, 
finding life in the water ; never ^ but you must have 
spiritual life and death to sin before baptism — they 
that gladly received the word were baptized — dead 
people do not become glad in that sense ; neither is 
your demonstation to be given in halves ; that is, die 
and symbolize that, and then become alive and sym- 
bolize that ; but you being born again or passing 
from death to life, the death and resurrection are 
both symbolized by your being buried in and raised 
out of the water. This done with the proper under- 
standing and design of both administrator and candi- 
date, you are ready for the equally solemn duty of par- 
taking of the bread and wine to symbolize or represent 
the kind of food your soul eats. ^V^'^q physical acts 
being analogous to that which is done by the '' inner 
man " as the Apostle expresses it : by that something 
that is born again, or from above. These are re- 
quired to constitute a Baptist. These doctrines or 
facts, clothed in this symbolic language, are very 
dear to us, and this order must and wdll be pre- 
served ; and if there were candidates for baptism here 
as we had in Salem, (and close-communion Baptists 
are very unpopular there), I would tell you as I told 
those candidates with whom we were going immedi- 
ately to baptism. I told them that dearly as we 



BY B. P. LAWLER. 119 

loved them, believing their sins already pardoned, 
and their names in Book of Life, yet^ if the commun- 
ion were to be administered there and then^ we could 
not permit them to partake of it until they were bap- 
tized. So I say to you. If there were candidates 
for baptism here to-day, they would not be permitted 
to " take " the bread and wine. This shows outwardly 
what we believe to exist in the heart. I will put my 
laws in your hearts, and in your minds will I write 
them. And as the Apostle went to Jerusalem bound 
in the Spirit^ so are you bound by the Spirit to keep 
his commandments. It is an obligation ?esting upon 
our hearts^ and we must and will obey, God being 
our helper. 

In conclusion, may I not say a word to the unbe- 
liever? Dear friends, you are "clothing" some of 
your thoughts in things of this world, and if the 
thoughts are what they are represented to be, they 
must " be fearful." Christians are said to put on 
Christ. What do you " show forth? " You symbolize 
some things outwardly^ which, if they have their coun- 
terpart inwardly^ a bad state of things exists there. 
The servants of God are to be clothed with robes of 
righteousness. What is to be your clothing in the 
world to come ? Sheet flame ? Send Lazarus to tell 
my brethren not to come unto this place of torments, 
for I am tormented in this flame. 0, my friends, 
listening so attentively^ shall any of you be lost ? 



120 SEEMOlSrS, LETTERS AI^D LECTURES, 

Who shall dwell in devouring fire? Says the 
prophet, who ? Which one, or how many ? One 
would be too many to be lost. May God have mercy 
upon us and save us, is my prayer. Amen. 

Then was sung : 

" O sinner ! why so thoughtless grown ? . 
Why in such dreadful haste to die ? 
Daring to leap to worlds unknown, 
Heedless against thy God to fly ? 

Wilt thou despise eternal fate, 

Urged on by sin's delusive dreams ? 

Madly attempt th' infernal gate 
And force thy passage to the flames? 

Stay, sinner ! on the gospel plains, 

And hear the Lord of life unfold 
The glories of his dying pains — 

Forever telling — yet untold." 



APPENDIX. 



LECTURE TO YOUNG MEN, 



Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By 
taking heed thereto according to thy word. Psalm 
119:9. 

The Bible prescribes the remedy for all sin, except 
the sin against the Holy Spirit. It hath never for- 
giveness. This remedy for sin, which is the gospel 
of grace, hath been held out to you, my friends, since 
your early childhood, in prayer at your mother's 
knee, in Sabbath School, and in church, — line upon 
line, precept upon precept, morning and evening, 
until, perhaps, with many of you the story is 
''growing old." 

While we would not for a moment cease to pre- 
sent the " Same Old Story," we would, this evening, 
attempt to give some reasons why a young man 
should take heed to his way according to the word 
of God. 

1st. There are sins against the body to destroy 
it, plainly forbidden in the Bible, which, if indulged, 
bring early decline and premature death. A health- 
ful body is of the very first importance to every one. 
Few men are able to endure far-reaching mental ac- 



124 SERMONS, LETTERS AISTD LECTURES, 

quisition. The Hon. Charles Sumner's sun went down 
at noon, when it seems to us that if his body had 
been able to sustain his mental efforts in literature 
and diplomacy, his life would have been far more 
valuable to the nation. The late Speaker Kerr, who 
cut his way through mountain barriers, even from 
obscurity to the *' first honors of his country/' passed 
away ere the darkening shadows of the evening of 
life left their '' ashen hue " upon his brow. Stupend- 
ous exertion, mental or physical, cannot long be 
maintained at 'Hhat far height" without great phy- 
sical durability. David says : '' What man is he that 
desireth life and loveth many days that he may see 
good ? Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from 
speaking guile. Depart from evil and do good. 
Seek peace and pursue it." As it endangers a sub- 
ject to speak against his king, so no man can, with 
impunity, sin against his own body ; and it were well 
to heed the warning voice of Solomon, the wise man, 
in regard to the destruction of the human body. 
You are, in an important sense, the custodian, the 
guardian of your own health. The " fifth command- 
ment " in the Law has promise of long life annexed, 
to-wit: ''That thy days maybe long in the land 
which the Lord thy Grod giveth thee." Every young 
man should be heedful concerning his way, physi- 
cally, that he may lon^- live upon the earth, and that 
the world may be the better for his having lived. 



BY B. F. LAWLER. 135 

It is sad, indeed, to "behold a human form, ema- 
ciated and pale, linger with wasting disease, cared 
for by friends all through the weary months or years 
of a miserable life, w^hen it comes by accident or in- 
heritance, but sadder still when it is the " quick pen- 
alty" following a known violation of physical law. 
Self-preservation is said to be the first law of nature ; 
but how often is it wholly disregarded ! How s^u5- 
bornly have some held to sins until, serpent-like, 
they have settled their fangs deep into the physical 
life. If you have no higher 'impulsion," this alone 
should be sufficient. Every person should know how 
easily the physical system can \)^ permanently injured, 
surpassing the skill of the physician to find a remedy. 
Your young apple-tree is no more susceptible to in- 
jury than the human body, and is as easily healed 
when injured, which is frequently not thoroughly 
done, for such trees often break down under their 
first bushel of apples. There are many victims of 
disease '' pining away " — fading like a leaf — who can 
trace their sufferings to such causes as are here re- 
ferred to. Paralysis and death mark the serpent's 
track ever since the '' fall of man." Wherever you 
make your home permanently or temporarily, keep 
with you some good work on the ''pains and penal- 
ties " of the human body — something your physician 
would recommend. Be sure to sleep enough, and 
"beware of dancing masters." Give no heed to 



126 SEKMOIS^S, LETTERS AND LECTURES. 

slanderers or gossip mongers, letting their tales of 
scandal die from severe neglect. 

We notice also that the mind is to be cared for by- 
way of getting wisdom, said by the wise man to be 
the principal thing. It is evident that in the '^ fall 
of man " his mental endowments were, in some sense, 
buried in the ruins. These are to be exhumed, 
which in ordinary cases requires long, strained ap- 
plication, hence the importance of health. 

Mind rules the world. David was a statesman, 
a warrior, a musician and a poet. Hear what he 
says about study. Speaking of the '^blessed man," 
he says : '-In His (God's) law doth he meditate day 
and night." The great Apostle said to Timothy : 
" Study to show thyself approved unto God, a Vv^ork- 
man that needeth not to be ashamed." We learn 
that Timothy was a student from his youth. Plato 
could never have left such ''immortal traces " with- 
out immortal mind. Socrates^ Demosthenes, Lycur- 
gus, and later, Addison, Bacon, Butler and JSTewton 
have '' stirred the scale-beam " of the literary and sci- 
entific world, and left imperishable records, such as 
the ''sponge" of time fails to erase. Take heed to 
your way, mentally. Read even in your school his- 
tory, and you will learn of many who have distin- 
guished themselves by cultivating their minds and 
their farms as well. The Hebrews were a powerful 
people. To them the law was given and their influ- 



BY B. F. LAWLER. 127 

ence is felt wherever the Bible is read. Even their 
poetry is sacred to the lover of the divine economy. 
Grreece, with her half million inhabitants, three hun- 
dred and fifty years before Christ, was a very great 
power compared with modern China with her ^^teem- 
ing millions," because of her superior mind. With 
mind, men sway nations. You must become, as is 
often said, your own architect. You must hew out 
your own fortunes. Obstacles must be removed out 
of your way, and this, too, by your own exertions. 
You see men rising in the world and wielding a 
great influence. You feel that that is not within 
your reach ; it may be because you are a poor man's 
son. Ah ! Think again. Franklin, than whom we 
have no greater diplomatist, was a poor printer boy. 
Roger Sherman rose from his shoemaker's bench to 
the first honors of his country, making his voice to 
be heard in Congress among the wisest and best of 
his compeers. William Carey, first missionary to 
India, though unlearned and poor during his youth, 
acquired twenty-seven languages. Greorge Wilson 
ran away from the work-house because he was de- 
nied the privilege of learning to read, — studied 
mathematics in a little room over the shop in which 
he was an apprentice, — studied while ''the other 
boys" were at play, until his demonstrations in 
mathematics took the prize in the French Court, — a 
fortune to him. Few young men can affbrd to play ; 



128 SERMOIN'S, LETTERS AKD LECTURES. 

let that be for the children, and " quit you like men.'^ 
Paul, the Apostle, says: "When I was a child, I 
spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought 
as a child ; but when I became a man, I put 
away childish things." Our Saviour speaks of chil- 
dren at play without condemning it, but it is said 
that thousands of lives were lost when the people 
sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. 
Study the lives of great men, and your own bosom 
will throb with emotions of aspiration. Supply 
yourself with good books, and hold converse with 
great minds, and, as the " dyer's hand takes the 
color of the dye," so your minds will take on more 
or less the modes of thinking of those persons who 
are far superior to yourself. " Put clay in company 
with a rose, and it will smell of the rose," is the old 
adage. Effort of the mind makes the brain grow. 
Supply yourself with proper reading — no namby 
pamby work, but nutritious, mental food, and look ye 
well to your ''way." 

Let us remind you, also, that morals, good and 
wholesome, ought to be your constant, common com- 
panion, if you expect to attain and hold a goodly 
place among men. Alexander Pope says : " Worth 
makes the man, the want of it the fellow." Young 
men are the flower of the country, although the 
roses (the blushing maidens) may adorn them. In 
peace or in war, a country will be just what the 



BY B. F. LAWLER. 129 

young men will make it. When Cataline undertook 
to destroy Rome, he began by corrupting her young 
men. Cataline knew where to ^' strike." He led 
those young men, first to pleasure-seeking — thence to 
ruin. They were a " living wall, a human wood," 
in Rome's defense, but when they were become 
^Svrecks" of humanity, they were no protection to 
mother, sister, but ready to act the part of enemies 
to Rome. Men may be used at time as instruments 
under the infi.aence of woman, and it is well. Barak 
did great things while Deborah urged him on, put- 
ting him forward. But few are to be found like him 
who can be thus utilized. Had Barak been a traitor 
or a debauchee, Deborah could have done nothing 
with him. The real 'timber " must be in the man, 
and he should never permit a Cataline to destroy his 
manhood. JN'othins; seemed able to destrov Rome 
while her young men were men. So you, my dear 
friends, are the coming strength of our country, and 
every age, rank and condition loudly call unto you 
to ''take heed unto your way." Your friends, your 
country and your God call upon you to ''be heedful 
and watch." Keep the monition, watch the " way." 
Our society in future, our country, will be what you 
are at that time. 

Satan is calling too, not less loudly, perhaps, for 
recruits to the hospital, to the asylum, to the "poor- 
house/' to the dark, gloomy cell in the prison. I do 



130 SEKMONS, LETTERS AT^D LECTURES, 

not mean to say that any of you will go there, but 
calling to mind the fact that every convict, every tri- 
fler, every vagabond, every vile person, every ruined 
person, was once as innocent as you are now, and 
was greatly beloved by fond parents, perhaps by 
brothers and sisters. ' He who now "trembles on a 
felon's bed," was once the pride and joy of a mother 
and sisters. 

Two great armies are in the field ! Have you read 
of the Fifty-one and the Forty-nine ? The Fifty-one 
are building up and the Forty-nine are pulling down. 
The one making a living, the other simply consum- 
ing what has been made. Which are you going to 
be ? The one a support, the other a dead weight. 
The Fifty-one produce food and clothing, build 
houses, support the gospel, build up institutions of 
learning, furnish coffins and graves to bury the dead. 
You feel now that you will never be an expense to 
the world. Many innocent, unsuspecting young men 
have felt as you do, and yet have been caught in the 
tangled meshes of sin, and have draped their homes? 
once bright and happy, in midnight gloom. What 
is to become of the mother, when her son has been 
destroyed ? Satan is leading some of you as far as he 
can — pleasure, " fun," is harmless in itself — idleness 
is not, perhaps, sinful as the overt act^ but is cer- 
tainly the parent of vice. 

Boss Tweedy whose name is a hissing and a by- 



BY B. F. LAWLER. 131 

word, was once a fine young man, — now a defaulter on 
a mammoth scale, and a prisoner. Temptations are 
very violent, and thousands are this very evening 
yielding with feeble and yet feebler stroke to their 
mad waves — now ceasing to resist, are sinking into 
the muddy current that glides along to the gulf be- 
low. This human wall is now weak in some of its 
parts — would fall, but that the strong bear the weak. 
Are you conscious of error which grieves some con- 
fiding, trusting heart? There are easy stiles over 
into green meadows of pleasure. The Pilgrim saw 
the bones of many who had perished there. Many 
have been led on until they have entered the '' wind- 
ing stair," but never came out again. Honesty is 
said to be the best policy. Honesty, however, is not 
policy at all. If we have to use a policy to hide our real 
self, we would better improve the '^ self." The '' way " 
of some becomes so heavily laden with intrigue and 
fraud that the foundation has ^' given way," the fall 
being great. No matter how excellent your attain- 
ments, no matter at what great cost you have been 
educated, it is all lost, if you are lost. It goes down in 
the vortex. Satan cares not for your suflerings, — 
rather delights in them, after he has accomplished 
his fiendish purposes with you. As ruined men go 
to their graves, their places are filled by the young 
and the strong. Sould you find your ''way" becoming 
"thick set" with vice of any kind, you should clear 



132 SERMONS, LETTERS AND LECTURES, 

it away with " one bold sweep/' nor leave a trace 
behind. When your body shall be put in its " lowly 
bed/' should you have lived a wicked life, the ruin 
does not stop there. Cataline's work went on after 
the young men of Rome were gone. Your example 
will /we when you are dead, — will be reproduced 
many times ; first, it may be in the person of a little 
brother, or some friend that has been under your in- 
fluence. Then Satan can walk over the field with 
an insolence like nothing but himself. Look well to 
your 'Hvay," 'tis *'the little foxes that spoil the vines" — 
the little sins Jlrsi, which get the advantage of us. 
Let no sin fasten upon you which will undermine 
your health, your intellect or your morals. 

In conclusion, let us invite your attention to the 
fact that all this and these, if you possess them all — 
health, intellect and morals, — whilst they are good 
and commendable in the sight of Grod and man, are 
not sufficient for a journey into that " undiscovered 
country." Mcodemus was a ruler of the Jews, was 
a member of the Sanhedrim, yet Jesus told him he 
must be born again. Pilate was governor when 
Jesus was crucified, yet his greatness failed him, be- 
ing deposed, he became a suicide. The young man 
who was rich and kept the commandments from his 
youth up, was promptly informed by the Saviour 
that he lacked one thing. Voltaire, with all his 
learning and power, regarded his death as a leap 



BY B. F. LAWLER. 133 

into the dark. Aaron Burr's life was a failure from 
lack of holiness of heart and life ; his fame has gone 
down amid the smoldering ruins of his fallen great- 
ness. Bonaparte, whom you love to read about, ac- 
knowledged that Jesus of Nazareth had a " higher " 
and nobler power over his people than any man. 
Bonaparte could not control his men after his im- 
prisonment or death, — Jesus' disciples obey him still 
these eighteen hundred years. The righteousness of 
Jesus is what you need, not only for heaven, but for 
earth as well. Abraham was rich and great, yet he 
believed God. Roger Sherman, though a member 
of Congress, read his Bible and prayed in his fam- 
ily. Washington is said to have been a man of 
prayer. Young man, ashamed to pray! ''Seek 
first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.'' 
The way of the wicked is to be turned upside down, 
says the Psalmist. (Ps. 146.) May none of you be 
lost, is my prayer. Amen. 



134 SERMONS, LETTERS AND LECTURES. 



MUSIC m THE FAMILY. 



Read by request Aug. 23, 1877, before Prof. Wor- 

ley's Musical Convention, held in 

Salem, Nebraska. 



If ^' Israel's Sweet Bard " could charm away the 
gloomy feelings of King Saul, save on one occasion, 
using his harp, may we not safely infer that music 
would be good for /ess pretending folks than Saul. 
And if music was profitable to his household, w^hy 
should it not be profitable to all households ? 'Not 
songs which many are wont to indulge, but music, 
soul-stirring music. Business men, worn out and 
weary, when home returned at evening, are in great 
need of respite, not only for body, but the mind as 
well. What can so innocently and so sweetly divert 
the mind from the tangled meshes of business life as 
music in the family ? How often do we see in the 
papers reports of deaths of .business and literary 
men with concluding sentence thus : " From soften- 
ing of the brain." What does this mean but want of 
rest? 

The farmer is no less capable of enjoying and be- 



BY B. F. LAWLER. 135 

ing profited by music than others, and not unfre- 
quently is better able to afford it than others. In 
all homes music can be turned to good account. 
One lady required her little boy to rock the cradle 
and sing^ the latter of which little Jamie thought the 
baby could dispense with, and refused to sing. The 
mother, however, went farther than we would suggest 
and boxed the little fellow severely, saying : ''I tell 
you to sing." Little boy whimpered through his 
tears that he didn't feel like singing. Whipped 
children are not aj)t to sing for joy, but children and 
parents ought to sing, and if an instrument can be 
used, all the better. The ancients used to suppose 
that the swan sings before it dies. Some critic re- 
plies : '' Some men ought to die before they sing.^'^ 
We say no ; — every man ought to learn to sing, and 
either teach his family or have them taught the ru- 
diments of music, mainly for its own sake. It ought 
by all means to take the place of all gaming, because 
the morality of all games or plays is highest at the 
source or beginning, and seeks the down grade the 
whole of the journey, while music may and will be 
directly connected with that which springs up into 
everlasting life. 

As a science, music finds its true acme, bathing 
itself in the glory of the upper world, and no musi- 
cian is strictly uneducated, though the degrees of 
proficiency may be as numerous as the number of 



13^ SERMOKS, LETTERS A:NrD LECTURES, 

persons. Music, like many other blessings, may be 
perverted and its pure virginity violated by being 
misappropriated and compelled to serve in leading 
people astray. 'Tis no argument at all against the 
music itself. 

JSTotice some of the fruits : 1st, It cultivates and 
heightens the aesthetics of the home ; it enhances the 
attractions of home ; it furnishes largely of the 
"evening's home pleasures," and induces the mem- 
bers of the family to return at the ''hour of eve." 
Too well some are acquainted with the plaintive wail 
of " Don't stay late to-night." JNTot only are the 
members of the family drawn and held at home bet- 
ter with than without music, but guests and tran- 
sient visitors are pleasantly entertained and will or- 
dinarily be of the class who make themselves agree- 
able. By and by, when each in turn, perhaps, takes 
leave of the dear old home, and wends the weary 
way to some far-off land, '' What fond recollections 
still cling to the heart." Do you not now even fancy 
you hear some wanderer singing, '' Do they miss me 
at home, do they miss me?'' 

" And is there a chord in the music 

That's missed when my voice is away ? 
And a chord in the heart, that awaketh 
Eegret, at my wearisome stay? *' 

Music, music in the family is much better than is 



BY B. F. LAWLER. 137 

allowed by the careless observer. A home which 
sends out lovers of good music, is twice blessed — 
blessed with the music itself, and blessed with the 
tender emotions and fond wishes of those who 

" Far, far, in many lands have wandered ^^ 

from the dear old home. 

One young lady, a belle, who had been brought 
up in such a home as we speak of, had wandered in 
her moral life; long after the father had gone to 
sing with the angels, — was in the gay ball-room, 
standing by her partner ready for the promenade, 
which is altogether without godliness^ — heard a lady 
sitting not far from her, commence singing in low, 
measured tones, one of her father's favorite hymns. 
Her home, her father, mother, perhaps all the fam- 
ily, as they sang and worshipped Grod at home, 
passed before her. Her heart overcame her. She 
said to her friend, "That's my father's hymn." 
She wept. She asked to be allowed to retire from 
the ball-room, which was granted. She gave her 
heart to her father's Grod, and trusted in the Sav- 
iour's merit for salvation, and, we hope^ found in 
death, the family all in a heavenly home. 

As the ladder which Jacob saw reached all the 
way from earth into heaven, so it is that heaven be- 
gins on earth. Homes here devoted to God are 



138 SERMOTTS, LETTERS AND LECTURES, 

faintly analogous '• to that above." There is a river 
the streams whereof make glad the city of our Grod. 
There will be music in heaven. The loud hallelujah 
and the response, Amen, Amen, will make many 
a poor pilgrim so glad, and so happy that the sor- 
rows which have been passed through will all be 
forgotten ; 

^' And with eye and with heart 
Eunning o'er, we shall see 
The King in his beauty, 
^ And our ane country." 



THE AMERIG/\N BAPTIST FLAG, 

D. B. RAY, Editor and Proprietor, 
J. B. WEBER, Office Editor. 

OFFICE, 710 OLIVE STREET, 

ST. LOUIS, MO. 



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RAY'S BAPTIST SUCCESSION. 

Tlie Most Convenient Hand-book of Baptist 
History that has Ever been Published. 

This work should be owned by every Baptist ; 

Fin^t : Because it answers with historical facts, 
the usual objections to Baptist antiquity. 

Second: Because it arranges the historical facts 
showing the chains of Baptist succession up to the 
apostolic age. 

Third : Because it contains the historical accounts 
of the fearful persecutions in which millions of Baptists 
have been slaughtered during the dark ages. 

Finally: This book should have a general cir- 
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and wants of the common people. Any average 
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may successfully defend the Baptists against the attacks 
of other denominations. 

TESTIMONIALS. 
7'he Baptist, Dr. J. R. Graves, editor, says: 
*' * Baptist Succession.' — D. B. Ray lias issued his 
history bearing this title. We have glanced through 
it, and are pleased with it. He has, to our mind, demon- 
strated a succession of Baptist communities from the 
first to the present time." 

The Central Baptist, Dr. J. H. Luther, editor, says : 
" This book is gotten up in handsome style, con- 
tains 470 pages, printed on good paper, and in clear 
type. 

'* To say that we regard this a valuable contribution 
to Baptist literature would not fully express our idea 
of the work.'' 

The Texas Baptist Herald, J. B. Link, editor, says : 
*' This is a historical compilation of great value. 
It is far the best manual of Baptist history we have 
seen." 

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*' ' Ray's Baptist Succession.' — This book, we are 
glad to know, is having a wide circulation. Let the 



book roll on, it is doing a noble work in defe'/ce of 
truth. It is a production of decided merit.'' 

Extract from a letter to the author, from Joseph H. 
Borum, Secretary of West Tennessee Baptist Conven- 
tion: 

'' I have read with interest, profit and delight, your 
' Baptist Succession.' When I sat down to read it, I 
had some misgivings; when I arose from its perusal, 
it was with rejoicings. The most complete and satis- 
factory history of the denomination I have ever read. 
No Baptist should be without it, nor any one else who 
desires to know the truth." 

Elder W. W. Gardner, D. D., Professor of Theology 
in Bethel College, Russellville, Ky., says: 

" It is a valuable contribution to Baptist literature, 
and brings many historical facts within reach of the 
masses. I am especially pleased with the chapters on 
the Waldenses, and kindred sects. It is calculated to 
do much good, and deserves a wide circulation and 
careful reading." 

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and preachers in Arkansas, says: 

'^ Dear Bro. in Christ : I have carefully read your 
Baptist Succession^ and in my humble judgment it is 
the book for the times." 

Eld. J. J. Sledge, of Texas, and one of the ablest 
debaters and critics of the South, says: 

"Having carefully read, and compared. The Baptist 
Succession, by Elder D. B. Ray, with other historical 
documents, I can highly recommend it as sound in 
doctrine, and correct in historical truth. It presents, 
in a condensed form the substance of many large 
volumes, and is therefore very convenient and instruc- 
tive to all practical readers. His Text Book on Camp- 
bellism is equally worthy of careful perusal," 

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RAY'S TEXT-BOOK 

ON 

TESTIMONIALS. 

The Baptist, J. R. Graves, Editor, says : '* We hail the ap- 
pearance of this book. It is the very thing* needed hy our 
ministei'S who have not time to read all of Campbeir^' writ- 
ings—the very thing for our members, for it places a key to 
the mysteries of this seductive system in their hands, and 
with this book and the New Testament, they can withstand 
this error." 

N. M. Crawford, D. D.Jate President of Georgetown Col- 
lege, Kentucky, says : ** The work itself we consider the best 
book on the subject for popular reading. It gives a clear 
view of what Caiiipbellism is ; shows its maniiold inconsis- 
tencies, and refutes its errors.-' 

The Index and Baptist, Georgia, says: ''There was a 
place for this work, and the work tills the*^place. The distin- 
guisliing pecuharities of the Reformation are brought out by 
a great vai'iety of citations from the writings of Mr. Camp- 
bell and his -'disciples,' and confuted with * short, sharp and 
decisive' arguments, combining the authority of Scripture 
and the demonstration of logic." 

The Standard, Chicago, Illinois, says : " This is, e\1dently, 
the work of one who has made himself entirely fumiliar with 
Campbellism; who has read its inmost heart; of one, also, 
who loves that faith which was of old delivered to the saints, 
and is ready to contend tor it earnestly. The style is direct, 
pungent, and the reasoning conclusive, because, while logical, 
also scriptural." 

Howard Malcom, D. D., of Philadelphia, says: ''Among 
recent theological publications, that of Rev. D. B. Ray, of 
Lexington, Ky., is among the most timely. The Text-Book on 
Campbellism deserves a wide circulation, especially in the 
Southwest, as here that ism is mosi prevalent. The plan of 
the work comprehends every aspect of the subject. The ar- 
ranoement of topics is natural, the style ingenious, and the 
deductions fairly drawn in the yery words of their writers, 
and accompanied in every case, with reference to book and 
page. The result shows'a mass of contradictions, even in 
the writings of Mi*. Campbell himself. " 

The Text-Book is sent by mail, at SI. 50 per copy. 

Address : American Baptist Flag, St. Louis, Mo. 



THE CHURCH DISCUSSION. 



This is the only published Church Discussion be- 
tween Baptists and Campbellites in existence. This 
discussion was held in La Grange, Mo., in the year 
1873, between D. B. Ray representing the Baptists, 
and J. R. Luca3 representing the Disciples. It con- 
tinued eight evenings, and was reported by one of 
the best short-hand reporters in St. Louis. The pro- 
positions debated were as follows: 

I St. " The church organization with which I (J. R. 
Lucas) stand identified, known by my brethren as the 
Christian Church, possesses the Bible characteristics 
which entitle it to be regarded as the visible church or 
kingdom of Jesus Christ.^' 

J. R. Lucas affirms. > 
D. B. Ray denies. \ 
2d. " The church organization with which I, (D.B. 
Ray) stand identified, known by my brethren as the 
Baptist Church, possesses the Bible characteristics 
which entitle it to be regarded as the visible church 
or kingdom of Jesus Christ." 

D. B. Ray affirms. > 
J. R. Lucas denies. \ 

J. R. Lucas and D. B. Ray each endorsed his own 
speeches for the press. And after the manuscript 
report and printed proof of the whole discussion had 
passed under the inspection, and received the sanction 
of both disputants, as a correct report of the discus- 
sion, the Discussion was printed in book form of over 
500 pages. 

We sell the Church Discussion, single copy, by mail 
for $2.00. We will send the Discussion, as a premium, 
for four new cash subscribers (with $8.00), to the 
American Baptist Flag. Address J. B. Weber, 710 
Olive Street, St. Louis, Mo. 



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